Direct from Mr. X... It's The Hatchet Herald

Something Wicked This Way Comes……….

As you sleep peaceful at night completely lost in your own happy dreams of puppy dogs and ice cream, The Dark Carnival is quickly approaching a town near you. There is no rest for the wicked clowns and their parading carnival of side shows and freaks. The Insane Clown Posse will be constantly surprising you with popup shows, tours, and random flavor through the entire year of 2017.

First and foremost…. Insane Clown Posse will be invading the Midwest next Thursday, Friday, and Satuday with shows Indiana and Illinois. Why did ICP pick these 3 random dates and cities? Well that’s because ICP does whatever the fuck they want! So here’s a quick list of dates and ticket links for these 3 upcoming shows.

Juggalos, there are some ICP concerts where history was truly made: The first time Faygo was thrown on stage and at the audience. The first times the Clowns performed "Riddle Box," "Milenko" or "Jeckel Brothers" in their entirety for the first time ever. And now another history-making live event is coming on Saturday, August 26 ... right on Vernor Avenue in Southwest Detroit across from Clark Park--the very nucleus of where ICP began their long, hardworking rise to world domination.

Fam....get ready for the first ever... CARNIVAL OF CARNAGE SHOW! YES! The almighty first Joker's Card will be performed from start to finish at the fresh new venue El Club, which is located smack dab in the area where the Inner City Posse and then the Insane Clown Posse got their start.

Not only will the Wicked Clowns be revisiting the historic wicked shit classic album "Carnival of Carnage," but the opening act is going to flip your fuckin' wig all the way back. So far back it peels off your scalp, leaving your bloody skull fully exposed.

The opening act for the Carnival of Carnage Show is ... INNER CITY POSSE! They'll be bringing back those old school Dog Beats that first made some noise in Detroit Murderous way back at the dawn of the '90s.

I don't have to tell you that night will be one of the most incredible shows ICP has ever put on. But here's the thing: YOU GOTTA GET TIX ASAP BECAUSE YOU KNOW THIS FUCKER IS GOING TO SELL OUT WITH THE QUICKNESS!

Tickets go on sale THIS WEDNESDAY, May 3 EST at noon and you can ONLY get them at the website

So get ready to experience TRUE Juggalo family history in the making. THIS IS THE BIG ONE, NINJAS!! WHOOP WHOOP!

Until next time Juggalos…..

Stay 17’in

…Mr. X

11 Mar2017

Direct from Mr. X... It's The Hatchet Herald

What’s up Juggalos?

Mr. X here again with another super duper fresh ass Hatchet Herald to fill you’re ever growing craving for Juggalo related news. With the very first ever DARK CARNIVAL GAMES CONVENTION creeping right around the corner, I recently got a chance to sit down with the Don Mega himself Jumpsteady, and ask him a few questions about DCG CON coming up this April 21-23. So without any further ado, let's just jump right into it.

First off I’d like to say thank you for taking time out of your busy day to actually sit down with me for this interview………

Absolutely, thank you very much for having me.

DCG CON is definitely geared toward Juggalos but at the end of the day it’s still a gaming convention that includes a lot of classic games. Do you expect a lot of non-Juggalos to attend?

I think there will definitely be some, because there’s certain games like Decent, there’s a War Machine tournament, there's a bunch of role playing events. We’ve got the Battle Tech Simulator, there’s Gladiatorial Combat where people can get in the ring and battle it out. There’s Magic the Gathering tournaments, Texas Hold ‘em tournaments, pretty much all the major games that are very popular amongst gamers are represented at this event. So I feel like it will draw in certain people that are simply just curious. Plus there aren’t a whole lot of super legitimate big games cons in the Detroit area to begin with.

Plus now that we’re promoting on a street team level out and about the areas of Michigan, Ohio and Indiana and all that, I feel like it will definitely draw in certain people that are curious enough to check it out. We’re expecting about 95% of the crowd will be juggalos but I think there’s enough games that non juggalos can get into. And there’s definitely enough events that even if you’re not a gamer you can still get into it. We have games shows like Juggalo Family Feud, and also Juggalo Catch 21 which is based off of the tv show. There’s a lot of heart that was put into this, especially if you’re a juggalo gamer, this is like your paradise. But even if you’re not, with the after parties and everything else we’ve got going on, you can still come on down and have a good time you know? And we’re trying to bill it as a family event, unlike the gathering where we’re like "don’t bring children because it’s too wild". For this type of event we’re like "bring your whole family, even the kids".

We know the highly anticipated Juggalos Against Sanity is debuting at DCG CON. What other kind of freshness will be available?

So basically… We haven’t reprinted Morton’s List. But each one of the creators, Tall Jess, Nathan and I are taking games out of our personal stashes to sell at the DCG CON because we feel like this event is worthy of that. You know to basically dig into our personal stash, we each have a couple hundred games, we’re not going to sell them all but Morton’s List WILL be available for the first time in mad years. I’m not even sure how many years it’s been out of print. But you’ll be able to buy it at the con. The game itself will be like 20 bucks and we’ll also have the supplement which is "360* of the Inner Circle" for only $10.

Then besides that we have a limited line of Tom Wood/DGC CON merchandise that includes the Dark Carnival Games logo that Tom Wood basically put his magic on. All of which looks DEVISTATING and is available right now at www.hatchetgear.com but it will also be available at DCG Con.

And then of course we have the Juggalos Against Sanity game that I know mad ninjas have been waiting on since we announced it at the last Gathering. That will be available for the first time at the Con. You can also preorder it right now at www.hatchetgear.com but nothing will be shipped out until it drops first at the Con. There will also be Juggalos Against Sanity tournaments running and the game is super simple if you've never played. It's basically a version of Cards Against Humanity just juggaloed the fuck out!

What game or event are you most looking forward to personally?

For me without question it’s Into The Echoside tournaments, being somebody who plays Into The Echoside almost daily. I wish that I could just sit and compete in these tournaments, you know what I mean? Because I feel like I would have a very good chance of winning the whole thing you know? So for me, when we were at the gathering last year and we did the Into The Echoside tournament there it was super hype. Just seeing all the ninjas sitting down playing these games and just so enthusiastically trying to win and pulling out all the fresh tactics and all that. I literally sat and watched some of the games because I was helping run that event. And just watching the intensity and the strategy and tactics and just seeing everybody so into the game was just amazing to me. That event in particular is one of the things that I’m most excited about.

I know the game itself has been selling extremely well , and we actually sold out of the first batch of games that we had ordered back in early December, and we had to order another 3000 games and now they’re getting sent out to stores and all that . And this game, even to non juggalos play the game and they’re giving it props like "this is a really solid game" and they’re really excited about it. That in particular and the way the events are set up, it’s kind of interesting because there’s all these tournaments going on Friday and Saturday like Into The Echoside, Quest For Shangri-la, Texas Hold‘em, Magic The Gathering and all of that. And if you win one of these you get to play in what’s called the Masters Tournament and the only way to get into the Master Tournament which is on Sunday is if you already won one of the other tournaments. So when you’re playing in the Masters Tournament and you made it you’re like the best of the best, you know what I mean? And then those players compete for the ultimate title of World Champion. Then they get the world championship plaque, they get a custom made Dark Carnival Games jersey that isn’t available and not ever for sale, as well as some other prizes. And then also if you win one of those tournaments you win the holographic epics cards. I think it’ll be hype for people to be able to school their friends with these holographic cards like "where the fuck did you get those?" and you know its like "bitch, I won a tournament". So in my eyes these DCG CONS are where you’re going to determine who the best of the best really are.

The other thing that I’m really looking forward too is the Battle Tech Simulator. The Battle Tech simulator is this virtual reality game where you sit in these pods and close the door and you’ve got a 180 degree screen and you look out into virtual world. You have 2 hand controls, 2 foot pedals, all these buttons and stuff and you’re piloting a giant mech, you know that’s loaded up with missiles and lasers and ballistic weapons and you battle each other to the death.

Now I’ve been playing this Battle tech simulator since I was a teenager. I used to go down to Chicago every year just to play the Battle Tech Simulator. Me and my friends would take a trip down there and just spend the whole day because that’s the only place we knew it was at. So to be able to bring this to the con, its like things have come full circle. You know like back when I was a kid and I used to go down there and play and now I’m actually presenting it at my own game con. And that’s not something everybody can say they can do. And there’s no additional cost, everything is covered by you paying the cost of the ticket. The whole philosophy and very much the same as the gathering in that sense because once you purchase that 40 ticket, everything else is covered. Like the after parties, the Battle Tech Simulator, there’s a whole arcade that we’re setting up. All that stuff is all free play.

The only thing you have to pay for besides the ticket it’s self is if you want to play a role playing event, and that’s only because that includes a meal and snacks and drinks the entire time you’re playing. Plus the role playing events are in a very intimate setting, it’s only like 5 players and a GM.

We all know you have to constantly jump through hoops to lock down locations and vendors for the Gathering. Did you experience any similar bones when planning DCG Con?

You know, locally here in Detroit we have been doing business now for over 25 years now or whatever the fuck it is? So we’ve established some pretty good connections in and around Detroit, so it wasn’t as difficult. The hard part about it was finding a venue that was willing to give us a price break, you know what’s I’m saying? Because the ticket price is so low, like $40 for 3 days, and all the after parties and all the autograph signings and you know it’s going to be decked the fuck out. Like when you come in it’s going to be banners all around the walls there’s going to be pipe and drape everywhere. And you know all the tables are going to be looking all devastating, with covers on them and all that. And all that stuff is mad expensive.

So it took a while to find a spot because most people are trying to beat us up on the prices, But Gibraltar Trade Center, they realized this was our first time ever doing it and they really looked out for us, so you know I got mad love for them for that. And it’s a great spot, we’re set up right in the show space so it’s like 30, 000 square feet of space and literally every foot is covered with something. So when you look at the map and it’s pretty much wall to wall flavor. So yeah it was only difficult in the sense that trying to find a place that wasn’t trying to kills us on the price you know?

And then when you go outside of Michigan that’s when you start having problems. Because outside of Michigan all they know is the bad rep and the juggalos being labeled as a gang. And then getting a lot of doors slammed right in your face. And trying to convince everybody that everything’s going to be alright. But you know overall it did take a while to until we finally found the Gibraltar Trade Center.

And one of the cool things about the Trade Center itself is there’s like hundreds and hundreds of vendors. There’s the giant show space room and then every weekend the Gibraltar Trade Center is open and it’s a public market. And there’s just like hundreds and hundreds of venders selling shit for cheap cheap prices. I remember a few years back I was up there with my family and we found a Bruce Lee blanket and at the time it was only like $25. And we use that all the time like it’s so warm and comfortable, and it’s just like this huge King size blanket. Anyways and that’s another thing you can do there if you’re not super into games. You can come down and just check out that market and it’s just an incredible sight when you see it for the first time.

Do you expect DCG CON to become a yearly even like the Gathering and if so do you see it ever traveling outside of Michigan?

You know the DCG CON might become a yearly event. I really depends on how well this one does. You know there’s a chance because we’ve really never done anything like this before so there’s no telling how well it’s going to do.

If this event does well? I would love to do it every year. You know what I mean and make it a yearly event. It would be hard to move it because my whole vision to keep the ticket price low. And the only way to do that is to draw off my network of friends here in Detroit and those that can come in. Like I have a ton of friends that are coming in and running some of these events helping out, doing it for free. Basically because they’re gamers and they have a love for games and just so we can keep the ticket price low. So to bring it outside of Detroit would be hard because you’d have to raise ticket prices. Now you’re talking about putting people into hotels and the traveling and also finding a spot that’s not trying to gauge us for the money, or would even accept us, you know?

So my whole vision of it from the get, was what’s the lowest ticket price we could get? Like we’re not trying to make money on this at all, we’re just trying to break even. And that’s my goal. It’s just an event to give back to juggalos and show love for juggalo gamers. Like this is it, this is something we can all get into and just have a bomb ass fucking time for 3 days you know? So I’d say maybe it would move around but just to keep the price down I would say probably not.

To those ninjas that might not be into gaming, what kind of freshness can they expect?

So we have the autograph signings, we have the Psychopathic Records autograph signing where you can come through and get everybody autograph all at once. There’s the DCG CON autograph signing where you’ll have all the creators of Into The Echoside, Morton’s List, Quest For Shangri-la, and Juggalos Against Sanity.

We’ve got the after parties which run from 8 at night until 2 in the morning featuring everyone on Psychopathic Records, including the Insane Clown Posse. Plus plenty of other special guest like My Brothers Keeper, Mad V, B Skan, Ill, and Allaxulelu.

We also have the games library, where you can check out any game you want like even Uno or Chutes and Ladders. So if some of these games are above your skill level, you can go to the games library where literally there’s hundreds and hundreds of games to choose from and you can just pick out a game and play with your family. How fresh is that?

Any final thoughts or comments?

I just wanted to say that this whole event is definitely a risk for us at Psychopathic, trying something like this. But what I really love about it is how new it is and how different it is. A lot of ninjas are kinda relating it to the first gathering. How it was an indoor event and in a way it is very similar to that. You still have concerts going on at night and all these different events going on during the day. You know for the ninjas that don’t like to be outdoors camping and all that. Like this is the spot, this is their thing you know? And there’s an official DCG CON hotel that’s only 2 miles from the venue and every room there gets a special rate for like $90 a night. So if you get 4 ninjas staying with you it’ll be mad cheap you know? Every room has a jacuzzi, there’s shuttles running from 7pm to 3am from the trade center to the after party that’s held at Diesel Concert Lounge to help the people that don’t have a car.

I’ve been a gamer my whole life and this is something that has mad heart and love put into it. And also traveling around and being on tour you know and I’m constantly running into ninjas that approach me about Morton’s List, Quest For Shangri-la and Into The Echoside and just hearing about how many hours of enjoyment they’ve got from just playing those games. It’s kinda like let’s just see what this can do, and how many ninjas would love to do this? Because when we first announced this over a year ago it got a huge response. It seemed like juggalos were super excited about this, and that’s a big part of what we like to do here at psychopathic. We like to provide that flavor. Because just like anyone else we enjoy any excuse to get together with family. And the other thing is… Because the gathering is all the way on the West coast, juggalo day was down in Florida, and the march is on the extreme East coast, so I feel like DCG CON settles pretty nicely as an event for the Midwest area. What makes any event special we put on is the juggalos. It’s like these little family reunions where you just get together with all of your homies from around the United States. It’s my hope that this does extremely well and this goes on the happen every year. That’s what I’m hoping for. Because this Con that we’re creating, this is the Con that we want to see, this is the Con that I would want to be going to, you know?

Once again I’d like to thank Jumpsteady for taking a few moments out of his day to sit down and talk with me. I for one am very excited about the Dark Carnival Games Convention and I can’t wait to see all you juggalos there.

Much Clown Love,

…Mr. X

22 Feb2017

Direct from Mr. X… It’s the Hatchet Herald

Just to kick things off…..

We have just hired 3 new super ninjas who are working around the clock to lock in a WEST COAST location for the Gathering of the Juggalos 2017. Due to the F.B.I.’s GANG CLASSIFACATION of Juggalos it has become EXTREMELY hard to find a location for the Gathering. But we assure you… We have found 3 of the best men for the job and they are literally working 24 hours a day and nothing will stop them until The Gathering has found its new home. It will most likely not be in Colorado, but weare seriously looking into spots in California, Nevada, Arizona, and New Mexico. Nothing will ever stop The Gathering!

This fucking weekend mother fuckers….

If the official Juggalo weekend 2017 wasn’t enough? We’ve got a whole other weekend of nonstop mind blowing greatness at the back in Detroit the following weekend. That's Friday the 24th and Saturday the 25th. Fucking Fresh!

The first of which is The Rude Boy Benefit show at the Majestic Theatre on the 24th. The Rude Boy, Day Fucking 1 Member of the Inner City Posse, the man who introduced Violent J and Shaggy to South West Detroit, has fallen on some hard times due to serious health issues. As I talked about in the last issue Rude Boy recently had not 1, but 2 major heart surgeries. And the Medical bills are stacking every day. So ICP and Psychopathic Records stepped in and announced that The Rude Boy Benefit Show would be their 2nd Deed of Love.

For this very special show, for the first time ever under the same roof on the very same night. Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope will each be preforming solo sets. So if you’ve never seen a Shaggy or J solo show? Here’s your chance to see both of them at one show. Also on this very special show we have MBK (MY BROTHERS KEEPER), Detroit’s own MOTOWN RAGE, the very controversial SPANISH SIDE and Psychopathic allstar LYTE! Tickets are still on sale and all proceeds go right to the Rude Boy to help with his medical bills.

And if that’s not enough…… Everyone that comes to The Rude Boy Benefit Show will receive an EXTREMELY LIMITED, VERY FRESH, BRAND NEW CD. What’s on this cd you might ask? Well I guess I can tell you… Every person that comes to Rude Boy’s Benefit will receive a brand new track from Violent J and The Rude Boy titled "No Drama" (aka The Kids Song). We’ve all heard their "Mom Song", well here’s the brand new exclusive follow up track we’ve all been waiting for. So make sure you come out Juggalos. Bring some friends, bring their friends, bring your friend’s friend’s friends. This event is one that’s very close to our hearts and there’s no doubt this will relieve a lot of stress of this amazing man’s shoulders. We’ll see you there.

Then Saturday the 25th, also at the Majestic. For the very very very very last time ever in the United States……. ICP will perform the mighty Riddle Box Show. This is it folks. This is you’re very last fucking chance to see ICP perform the mighty 3rd Jokers Card on American soil. And to keep true to the old school vibe of the evening they’re bringing in some classic Juggalo favorites. I’m talking about PROJECT BORN, and MYZERY will be in the house to kick off the show. There are VERY FEW tickets left. Don’t sleep on this. Chances are it’ll probably be sold out by the time you’re reading this stupid new letter.

Last month mother fuckers…..

In case you missed it here’s a quick recap of everything that happened last month:

I recently had a chance to sit down with the very lovely, very talented, very beautiful, but very dangerous Miss Blahzay Roze for a quick and personal interview where we talked about her EXTREMELY controversial music video "White Lights". FUCK all the rumors and controversy all the rumors and controversy, Blahzay Roze has grown into a powerhouse here at Psychopathic Records while her debut album "Broken" is flying off shelves. Being the first female artist on the label, she’s really set the bar high if ever another girl that comes along.

Mr. X:

You just had a new music video drop this past January for your song "White Lights". Many out there speculate on your personal stuggle with domestic violence, could you share with us how much of the song is actually based off your real life experience?

B.Roze:

Unfortunately, I grew up in a household plagued with domestic abuse. My mother started dating a man when I just was 8yrs old. He would get violently drunk and fight my mom. Make her hit us and stuff. When I got older I promised myself I would never be in that situation. In 2013, July 4th I was attacked by my boyfriend (Now Ex). It was terrifying. I could write a book about the experience. I’m so sorry to any woman who’s going through something like that.

Mr. X:

During the shooting of your music video "White Lights" were there any parts particularly hard to get through? Did the memories of abuse linger?

B.Roze:

Though the entire song is very emotional for me. Mostly because I think about my mom and watching her get hit. The experience of filming this particular music video was almost uplifting in a way, strengthening. I worked with an amazing crew including the famous Ryan Archibald & Jumpsteady himself.

Mr. X:

How were you able to grow up and overcome in an environment with such abuse happening on a daily basest?

B.Roze:

Well, I’m not ok by any means. I suffer from extreme mental disabilities. In 2013, when my now ex-boyfriend got physical with me or should I should say it like it should be said, no sugar coating, excuse me when my ex-boyfriend beat the living shit out of me, I had amazing friends and a haunting background to motivate me forward and away from that situation.

Mr. X:

Just so people aren't confused, what was your overall gaol and message behind the making of "White Lights"?

B.Roze:

I’m done with violence of this kind or any other, to go on seemingly unnoticed. Almost swept under the carpet like somebodies cried wolf too many times. No, these human beings need help. Serious help. Not just the people getting out of a situation and becoming free but the mother fuckers who actually think it’s fucking ok to ever, ever, put your god damn filthy hands on another human in domestic abuse. I’m not staying quiet. I never will. I’m throwing it right in their fucking faces. Bam Bitches. Hungry? Here’s a nice hot plate of fucking reality.

Mr. X:

Any final thoughts or words of advice for people stuck in abusive relationships?

B.Roze:

You can do it. I don’t know how many times your friends and family have told you that you can, maybe they never have but, I know one thing…. You fucking can. You can be independent, you can live life to its fullest without being held down (Physically) or back from experiencing the beauty of life. I feel like a lot of people are not just trapped because of an abuser but because of a symptom of the abuse, anxiety. It manipulates you severely. Tell me, how many times have you said "I’m doing it I’m gonna leave him." & then the other part of your brain comes up with a reason not to, a fucking excuse. One after another until you’re stuck in a ruthless fuckin cycle you can’t get out of. Ask for help! Stop making excuses. If you’re afraid for your life get the fuck out of there. Go anywhere. Call any of the hotlines. There are people you don’t even fucking know waiting with open arms to just help you! & for everyone else. Take care of yourselves & each-other.

Well on that serious note, no jokes this week kids. Have a good morning, good evening, and good night.

Much Clown Love,

…Mr. X

27 Jan2017

Direct from Mr. X... It's the Hatchet Herald

What’s up, Juggalos?

In case you haven’t noticed by the giant sweltering lumps on your face there’s a motherfucking hurricane of diamonds blowing through the Juggalo World with no trace of ending anytime soon. There’s so much freshness happening this year, in 2017, that it’s almost overwhelming.

We’ve got Solo tours, ICP’s 17 Tour, The 17 Deeds of Love, DCG Con, Juggalo Weekend in Florida, Juggalo Weekend in Canada, The Gathering, The Juggalo March, New albums from every artist on Psychopathic Records, and the list goes on…

But this week in the Hatchet Herald we’re going to be focusing on ICP’s Solo Tours, Juggalo Weekend, The 17 Deeds of Love, and the brand new Psychopathic Psypher Video dropping very soon.

ICP’s Back on the road……

It’s about that time again ninjas…. We’re now just a few short weeks away from ICP’s SHORT SOLO SIDE SHOW SPECTACULAR TOUR. Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope are stepping back out on the road, but only this time they’re going their separate ways as they embark on 2 simultaneous, short and intimate solo tours. But don’t you worry there, turkey neck. The wicked clowns ain’t ever breaking up, they’re just spreading some extra flavor all over your stale bitch ass! As they travel to and from JUGGALO WEEKEND in Florida you’ll be able to catch them live as they perform at the same venues just days apart from one another. Every venue is offering combo ticket packs so check out www.PsychopathicRecords.com or your local music venue for more details on that.

Did someone say Juggalo Day weekend? I sure as fuck just did!

Unless you’ve been living under a rock the last few days. Or maybe you’ve had your face stuck under a portly woman’s jelly filled butt cheeks? You’ve definitely seen the new bombastic line up. And what else can I say except Absolutely-Fucking-Devastating. For the first time ever ICP will perform both Tunnel of Love and The Amazing Jeckel Brothers, in their entirety. Night 1, get your bowties and jiggy colorful suits ready and come witness ICP’s Triple X Love Fest where they’ll be performing Tunnel of Love from front to back plus all the other classic love songs we’ve all grown to love. And if that didn’t make your panties wet enough? Night 2, come watch in terror as Jake and Jack juggle the fate of your very own tortured soul as ICP tell the tale of the mighty 5th jokers card at the one and only Amazing Jeckel Brothers Show. That’s two INCREDIBLE shows, never before seen anywhere and who knows if they’ll be witnessed ever again? Also at Juggalo Weekend you’ll see with your beady little eyes JCW, Sewerside, Lyte, Blahzay Roze, Kottonmouth Kings, Big Hoodoo, DJ Clay, Stiches, & Anybody Killa. FUCKING CLASSIC! And don’t worry Juggalos, if you already bought tickets for the prior lineup, you now have a second chance to stuff some more of your hard earned money in our pockets when you buy them all over again. I’m just kidding ninja, they will be honored at the door. And since you’re already down in Florida… Why not take a quick road trip up to Jacksonville and catch the wicked clowns yet again? But this time they’re coming with the spectacular and amazing Riddle Box Show!!! Great fucking idea!!! We’ll see you there.

In the ashes of Juggalo Weekend ICP will continue their solo tours as they make their way back to Detroit for the Rude Boy Benefit Show and the very final Riddle Box Show ever performed on American soil. We’ve said it before, but this is fucking it ninjas. This is the very last and final time you’ll be able to catch the Riddle Box Show without leaving the country. So just in case you were kidnapped by surf ninjas? Or possibly held captive by an overly promiscuous pack of polar bears? And you missed Juggalo Weekend in Florida… You’ll get another chance at freshness back in Detroit.

In case you didn’t know, the 17 Deeds of Love is made up of 17 different charity events Psychopathic Records will be hosting during 2017, the first of which was a HUGE fucking success and took place at the Token Lounge on January 7th. Juggalos packed in that bitch like your momma trying to stuff her saggy ass tits back in her bra after a Bon Jovi concert. Not only did we sell that bitch out, but we packed in at least another 100 ninjas when the fire marshal wasn’t looking.

The whole night was completely off the hook! The lucky Juggalos in attendance were treated with special sets from the entire Psychopathic Records roster. I’m talking about….. Lyte, DJ Clay, Big Hoodoo, Anybody Killa, and the kings of the wicked shit the Insane Clown Posse. The only staleness was Blahzay Roze was unable to attend due to a prior commitment, and she was greatly missed. But regardless of that bone, the evening went without a hitch. But this was no regular concert, this was a straight the fuck up Juggalo Party. All the stars were mingling in the crowd throughout the night, and even Violent J himself threw down his mic at the end of ICP’s set and dove head first into the sea of Juggalos swimming his way straight to the bar. He barely made it out alive!

And let’s not forget the most important part of the night….. All profits went directly to The Michigan Humane Society. And after all was said and done, we raised just over $4000 that night and now all the cute little animals can sleep safely for a few more weeks thanks to all the Juggalos who came out to support.

The second of 17 Deeds of love, (which I already mentioned briefly above) is taking place Friday February 24th at The Majestic Theatre in Detroit Michigan. This VERY SPECIAL show is definitely one that’s close to our hearts. I’m talked about THE RUDE BOY BENEFIT SHOW. I think it’s safe to say The Rude Boy has become a Juggalo icon and household name. The man is a Living Legend, JCW All Star, Psychopathic Homie, and one of the original members of the Inner City Posse.

Over the last few month’s Rude Boys health took a major turn for the worst and recently he underwent triple bypass surgery. During this time, not only has Rude Boy not been able to work and provide for his family but his wife has also taken time off to stay home and help her husband during his lengthy recovery. With medical bills stacking and no source of income coming in, Rudy and his family have really been put on hard times.

So now it’s time to give back to a man that has given so much without ever asking for anything in return. Rude Boy puts on countless benefit shows, as well multiple charity drives collecting everything from school supplies, to winter coats and clothing, to Christmas presents and beyond. He’s the kind of man that will give you the shirt off his back without thinking twice. So it wasn’t even a question of if? But instead a question of when? Long time Homies and Best Friends ICP and Psychopathic Records would step in to help.

Coming live and in effect on February 24th for the first time ever you witness BOTH Violent J, and Shaggy 2 Dope perform SOLO SETS under the same roof, on the same night! You’ll get to hear classic ICP solo tracks that you’ve never heard live at a standard ICP performance. Never before has ICP ever done something like this, but for their brother the Rude Boy? They’ll pulling out all the stops.

And on top of all that, for the first time ever… Both and only rock bands to ever be signed to Psychopathic Records will be in the house to perform and support their friend Rude Boy on the very same stage. I’m talking about ZUG IZLAND, and reuniting for this special show, MOTOWN RAGE. It’s been a long time since either of these bands have blessed the stage with their presence, making this a night not to miss.

On top of that we’ve got JUGGALO CHAMPIONSHIP WRESTLING as well as many more surprise guests. And for all you out of town Ninjas why not make it a weekend? Because the following night at the very same venue will be INSANE CLOWN POSSE performing for the very last time in the United States, the mighty RIDDLE BOX SHOW. That’s 2 nights of back to back freshness that you do not want to miss out on.

New Psychopathic Psypher…..

I’m not in a gang… You’re not in a gang… But since the rest of the country seems to have a hard time believing that ridiculous accusation, what better theme and title for the new psypher than “IF WE WERE A GANG?”

Every artist featured in this video has just signed a brand spanking new 3 album contract and will be releasing new material in 2017. We are bigger, stronger and prouder than ever to represent the Hatchet and the Juggalo world. Not even a solar eclipse could stop our shine right now.

This is absol-fuckin-lutely our biggest, most powerful psypher to date. To showcase their individuality as people and musicians, each artist was filmed individually in their own distinct environment. I’m talking about Violent J in Picker Forest, Shaggy 2 Dope and DJ Clay on Zug Island, Anybody Killa at the Native Funk Indian Reservation, Big Hoodoo on 7 Mile’s Westside, Blahzay Roze in Lewiston, Maine, and Lyte at his trailer park in Flint where the water’s always clean, like Billy Bill’s assault record.

Two weeks ago we wrapped up the “If We Were a Gang” video, after shooting the final scene in Detroit’s most notorious afterhours spot. You have to be in the know just to find this place, which doesn’t look like much from outside. But once inside you’ll travel down an old rusted freight elevator, straight to the underground. This is a place filled with all kinds of vices and debauchery, offering everything from alcohol to whatever your wicked heart desires. The crooked police are even in on it too and work security on their off hours. Since they’re only open from 2am - ??? We were able to sneak in early one afternoon and shoot the final scene featuring the entire Psychopathic Family. And of course like always, mad Juggalos came out to represent the hatchet. All in all, it was a very fresh day.

Well that’s gonna be it for this week ninjas…..

Just one thing to always remember… If you’re girl has a nutsack…. Just because you tuck it up her butt hole, doesn’t mean it’s not still there.

Much Clown Love,

…Mr. X

24 Dec2016

Direct from Psychopathic, It's the Hatchet Herald!!!

Merry motherfuckin’ Christmas, Fam! This is the last Hatchet Herald of 2016 and what a year it’s been. But I don’t wanna rehash 2016—hasn’t there been enough of that? Instead I want to focus on the present and future that awaits us in 2017—the Year of the Juggalo—which is unquestionably going to be a landmark year in Juggalo history.

Think about it. In our lifetime, this will be the only year that will contain the number 17 in it and as we all know, this numeral is sacred in the Dark Carnival world. That’s why we are entering the Year of the Juggalo, 2017, with such an explosion of nuclear proportions. The skies will swell into a hurricane as we enter this year, and the Diamond Rain that fell upon the Juggalo world in 2002 when we entered the era of the 6th Joker’s Card will be felt tenfold in 2017 as the hurricane of diamonds beats down upon us from the stormy clouds of the Dark Carnival.

So on New Year’s Day—January 1, 2017—we are dropping megatons of new flavor, marking a new beginning for Psychopathic Records and our beloved Juggalo Family.

First of all, both insaneclownposse.com and psychopathicrecords.com have been completely redesigned and remade courtesy of our computer ninja Dean, who’s the fucking MacGuyver of Psychopathic. Seriously. Mad love to you, Mean Dean and thank you for all you do. This new design is bright, shiny, and dripping with the diamonds that will be hailing down upon the Juggalo family all year long.

Also, dropping on insaneclownposse.com is a brand new song welcoming in 2017 that features the ENTIRE Psychopathic roster performing a powerful song called “Hurricane of Diamonds,” which will be available for FREE download on the site. Additionally on ICP’s site, as well as the Psychopathic YouTube channel, will be a devastating new INFOMERCIAL welcoming the Juggalo family into the Year of the Juggalo. This infomercial will also answer the rampant speculation as to what artists comprise the current Psychopathic Family roster. There’s been a lot of rumors and speculation but now…all the answers will be delivered.

The third site—and perhaps the most anticipated of them all—is the official website for the Juggalo March on Saturday, September 16, 2017…www.juggalomarch.com. This site is your one-stop-shop for all information about the march and the accompanying free concert which will follow at the Jiffy Lube Amphitheater. On the site, you will have access to a complete picture of how the 2011 National Gang Task Force’s report, which first listed Juggalos as a gang, has affected the members of the Juggalo family. This site also includes the actual legal documents accumulated through the years that Psychopathic and its legal team have been fighting to clear the Juggalo name. You will see the original 2011 FBI gang report (which, mysteriously, is no longer available for view on the official FBI website, despite being a public document). You will see the letter from the Royal Oak Police Department urging the management of the Royal Oak Music Theater to cancel ICP’s Hallowicked 2012 concert due to gang concerns, citing passages directly from the report.

Juggalomarch.com also has essays from some of America’s best known and most talented journalists and authors, including Steve Miller (author of “Juggalo: Insane Clown Posse and the World They Created), Nathan Rabin (one of America’s best known pop culture writers and the author of two Juggalo-related books), Brett Callwood, the former editor of the Metro Times, who wrote a fucking amazing cover story about Psychopathic teaming up with the ACLU to fight the FBI in court.

You will see dozens of testimonies from Juggalos and Lettes from across the country, detailing the harassment and hardships they’ve been forced to endure simply by being labeled a Juggalo. And many of these men and women have provided legal documentation proving that YES, INDEED…they were arrested, fired, or otherwise punished for being a member of the Juggalo family.

Also on the Juggalomarch.com site, you will find up-to-date information on the planned FREE concert in D.C. following the march. Once the site launches on January 1, more than 200 invitations written personally by Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope will be mailed out to artists that have shown Juggalo love over the years, inviting them to come perform at this free concert in the spirit of Juggalo freedom.

Some of these invited performers have sold millions of records, some only a thousand—but we know they have shown the Juggalo family much support in the past by performing at a Gathering or an ICP tour. Now we will see what artists will respond to our rallying cry to come support the Juggalo family when it needs support now more than ever.

A quick but important interjection: It’s important for everyone to know that Psychopathic Records is fully footing the bill for the march and concert. We’re paying for everything from security to port-a-potties to cleanup crew…everything is coming out of our pockets. That’s why we are asking all artists to come perform for free and with their own accord, responsible for their own lodging, transportation, etc. As far as I’m concerned, if an artist truly believes in the power of the Juggalo family and wants to give back to us after we’ve had their back for years, the fact that they’re not being paid shouldn’t matter. Back in the ‘60s and ‘70s, artists did shit like this all the time to draw attention to social and political causes. Let’s hope that spirit of rock-n-roll goodwill reigns over this concert.

The site will have a list of names, as well as what that artist’s current decision on performing at the Juggalo March concert will be. The status may say “pending,” meaning we haven’t heard back from them, “confirmed,” as in they will be supporting the fam at the concert, or “declined.” This list will separate what Juggalo world performers are true believers in our cause and which ones may have just been faking the funk. This list will be updated daily each time we get a response from an artist, so you’ll want to check back at juggalomarch.com regularly throughout 2017.

In addition to the explosion of flavor launching into the new year, Psychopathic has committed to, over the course of the Year of the Juggalo, 17 Deeds of Love. These Deeds will be events solely related to charity and helping others. The first Deed of Love will be going down on January 7 at the Token Lounge in Westland, Mich., and will feature a night of JCW Wrestling action as well as a 15-minute set from each artist on the Psychopathic roster---INCLUDING ICP! Plus, all artists will be mixing and mingling with the crowd, so come down and give a dap or a hug. And the cost to get for this 18+ show is technically free…to get in, all we ask is that you make a donation to the Michigan Humane Society at the door, which is where all proceeds for this night for fun and fellowship will go.

The second Deed of Love has already been announced—The Official Rude Boy Charity Concert on February 24 at the Majestic Theatre in Downtown Detroit. All proceeds from that concert will go directly to help support the Rude Boy and his family as he recovers from massive heart surgery. Tickets are on sale now at www.psychopathicrecords.com/tour-dates

Well, Juggalos, as you can see, we are about to enter a completely new chapter in Juggalo history as we cross over into 2017. GET READY TO GET PELTED BY THE HURRICANE OF DIAMONDS ALL YEAR LONG IN THE YEAR OF THE JUGGALO.

Thank you all for your Juggalo love and I wish all of you the merriest of Christmases and on New Year’s Eve…have those internet browsers and smartphones ready to soak in all the new flavor as we welcome 2017!

Whoop whoop and take care!

J-Webb

09 Dec2016

Direct from JWebb...It's The Hatchet Herald

Juggalos…HOW THA FUCK ARE YA!???!?!? This is your pal J-Webb with one of the last Hatchet Heralds of the year. I can’t believe that 2016 is nearly done because it went by so fuckin’ fast. On the other hand, I can’t WAIT for this year to be archived in the past because outside of the Juggalo world, 2016 suuuuucked skiffilofigus-ridden dick. Not only did three of my all-time favorite singers pass away – David Bowie, Prince, and Leonard Cohen – but it seemed like there was just a constant feeling of dread in the air at all times. Everyone was angry about the presidential election, people kept seeing so called “killer clowns” everywhere (the only good thing to come out of that whole thing was that my homie Violent J got asked to write an article about it for TIME magazine. You can read it here: http://time.com/4521464/insane-clown-posse-killer-clowns/ ), it was just a year of general staleness…EXCEPT…IN THE JUGGALO WORLD!!! Gathering 17 will go down as one of the happiest experiences of my life because the Juggalo family love there was SO THICK. Much love to the hot Juggalette mom who let me squeeze her titties and rub them in my face when she saw I was looking haggard and tired at the wristband table. Wherever you are, ‘Lette, thank you! Thank you to all the ninjas who gave me mad karma by just coming up and giving me a hug. It was just the best feeling in the world. Even the New York-fucking Times wrote a big ass story about Gathering 17, giving it props for standing out as THE REAL DEAL in a world of fake ass, corporate dick-sucking festivals that pretty much only exist to make money. Violent J’s dope ass audiobook got released; remember—you can download it instantly on iTunes and Amazon or buy the dope ass action figure-style USB drive on Hatchet Gear. Jumpsteady’s Juggalo-approved and critically-acclaimed deckbuilding game "Into the Echoside” took the gaming world by storm (stay tuned for the game’s first expansion set “Oracle of the Three Rings” soon, as well as the long-awaited, irreverent-as-fuck party game….JUGGALOS AGAINST HUMANTITY, coming sooner than you think, directly from the genius that is Jumpsteady).

And we ended 2016 with the launch of our upcoming line of dope ass vinyl reissues of classic Juggalo albums with the OG version of “A Carnival Christmas.” Our next entry in the Waxworks series (yup, that’s what we’re calling it) will be the remastered version of both the regular AND the XXX-rated version of “Tunnel of Love,” which drops just before Valentine’s Day on Friday, February 3. The regular version of the album contains a SICK looking picture disc and the XXX-version has Shaggy’s wang out in all of its glory on the cover, which will make this VERY hard to find in record stores and we’re only pressing 1000 units, making this an INSTANT collectable. Some day, perhaps at a Gathering seminar, I’ll tell you the story of what it took to make the XXX-version happen. Did you know that most record manufacturers are too wussy to print “pornography?” Dumbasses.

So as of right now, I’m putting 2016 behind us here at the Hatchet. We had a BOMB ASS year with many dope new products to keep our Juggalo fam entertained, one of the best Gatherings ever, and two of the hypest tours in recent Juggalo history: The Riddle Box tour and ICP’s first tour of Canada in over 12 years!!! But now, it’s time to look ahead to what it is perhaps THE BIGGEST YEAR EVER IN PSYCHOPATHIC HISTORY. The Year of the Juggalo. The year where a hurricane of diamonds will be sweeping across the Juggalo nation, the year with the number of the Juggalo sacrament: 2017!!!

First, we’re igniting the powder keg that will be The Year of the Juggalo RIGHT AFTER THE YEAR BEGINS! While millions of people around the world are recovering from there New Year’s hangovers, we at the Hatchet will be delivering A BRAND NEW PSYCHOPATHIC PSYPHER FEATURING THE ENTIRE CURRENT HATCHET FAMILY ROSTER! There’s been a LOT of speculation about who our NEW ARTIST is and shortly after the beginning of the Year of the Juggalo, in the dope new Psypher—called “If We Were A Gang”—you will be schooled on who is currently running with the Hatchet. We will also be dropping a new DOPE ASS INFORMERCIAL OFFICIALLY WELCOMING EVERYONE TO THE YEAR OF THE JUGGALO.

Also on New Year’s Day we’ll also be launchingwww.juggalomarch.com, which provides a big overview as to WHY we’re marching and WHY WE NEED EVERY JUGGALO AND AMERICAN WHO CARES ABOUT FREEDOM AND INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS TO BE THERE! Like we do with the Gathering of the Juggalos website every year (Quick note: DON’T FORGET WE’RE DOING OUR VERY FIRST WEST COAST GATHERING OF THE JUGGALOS IN 2017! STAY TUNED FOR A BIG ANNOUNCEMENT SOON!), more info will be added bit by bit, such as what hotels to stay at and shit, but the site will tell you all the important info you need to understand WHY we’re marching, WHERE we are marching, and you’ll even meet some of the people who have been personally affected by the FBI’s gang labeling. So on New Year’s Day, put down the champagne flute for a minute to check out all the dope freshness at www.juggalomarch.com as The Year of the Juggalo begins.

Once the Year of the Juggalo is in full effect, those road dogs named Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope are gearing up to hit the road to come entertain the Juggalo family. This time, though, it’s gonna be just a LIIIIIIIIIIITTLE bit different. ICP is still hitting road, but this time with a twist. And that twist is called ICP’s Short Solo Sideshow Spectacular Tour.

Let me explain.

J and Shaggs are each embarking on a short solo tour, playing the same cities and venues days apart. Make sense. So, say you go see Violent J's solo show at your nearest venue one week. About a week later, tha Southwest Strangla himself, Shaggy 2 Dope will be performing a solo set at that same venue. Dig? Here are the dates for the Short Solo Sideshow Spectacular Tour, which are also available in the tour section of Insaneclownposse.com.

In between those sporadic solo dates, ICP and their homies Twiztid, Blaze and others will all meet up in St. Petersburg, Florida on February 17 and 18 for JUGGALO WEEKEND 2017! The first night will be a double-headliner with sets from both Twiztid and the Southwest Strangla himself…SHAGGY 2 DOPE! The second day concludes with an ultra-rare performance from Dark Lotus perfoming—for the first time EVER in its entirety—“Tales From the Lotus Pod!” And don’t forget—there will be a special Juggalo Weekend 2017 commemorative copy of the two-disc, 180-gram vinyl version of “Tales From the Lotus Pod” for sale at the merch stand that weekend…with only 500 numbered copies available!!

And don’t forget…this two-day event will include one of the FRESHEST meet-n-greet packages ever put together! For the first time ever…a DARK LOTUS MEET-N-GREET!! This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to meet the mysterious and mystical Dark Lotus up close and in person! The VIP package for this exclusive event includes all of the following:

Following that explosion of flavor, ICP will be making a quick detour to Jacksonville, Florida to perform the Riddle Box Show that they were forced to cancel due to the stupid fucking hurricane two months ago. So if you got the bone last time, you can catch the Clowns at Limes in Jacksonville on February 19! And you can grab those tickets here, friends:https://www.ticketfly.com/purchase/event/1381531

And finally, this whirlwind frenzy of touring comes to a stop with a show that you cannot AFFORD to miss, because THIS IS LITERALLY A CONCERT OF HISTORICAL PROPORTIONS! On February 25, ICP will perform—FOR THE VERY LAST FUCKING TIME IN THE UNITED STATES … THE ALMIGHTY RIDDLE BOX SHOW!!! After two legs of touring and celebrating the 20thanniversary of the powerful 3rdJoker’s Card, ICP will perform “Riddle Box” from start to finish…for the very last time in America. No tricks, no fooling, no bullshit—this will be the VERY LAST RIDDLE BOX SHOW ON AMERICAN SOIL! It’s certain to be an emotional night with both tears and Faygo flowing like blood from Cactus Sac’s head…but all good things must come to an end. And thus will end the Riddle Box Tour in these United States. Forever. Tickets for this will also go on sale this Monday, December at insaneclownposse.com and psychopathicrecords.com.

As many of you may know, ICP’s longtime friend, homie, and JCW wrestling icon the Rude Boy recently underwent triple bypass heart surgery. He’s in a lot of pain and suffering but is taking it day by day and is definitely on the road to recovery. However, as anyone who has ever had to endure the staleness of staying in a hospital for several days can tell you, THAT SHIT IS EXPENSIVE! And that’s why on February 24 at the Majestic, ICP will be presenting The Rude Boy Benefit Show WITH ALL PROCEEDS BEING DONATED TO HELP PAY FOR RUDE BOY’S MEDICAL EXPENSES! This is the only show where you’ll able to see both Violent J and Shaggy do full separate sets at the same place. There will be several special guest performers including Zug Izland, DJ Clay and a full JCW show as well. Tickets for this very special and emotional show will be on sale this Monday, December 12 at insaneclownposse.com and psychopathicrecords.com.

There will also be a separate fundraiser for Rude Boy this Saturday, December 10 at the Diesel Lounge in Chesterfield Township, with performances from Bake Lo, that sick fuck Keegan the Creep Ass, 10/31, Razor Ray of Motown Rage fame and many more! And there will be wrestling sports entertainment from almost every independent wrestling promotion in Michigan (more info on this event is discussed below. Keep reading!). Members of the Psychopathic Family will also be in the house showing support. Diesel Concerts, 33151 23 Mile, Chesterfield, MI. 5 p.m. – 1 a.m. $10 suggested donation.

And today, as I wrap up the Hatchet Herald, the Rude Boy is actually here at Psychopathic Headquarters working on a project with Violent J—the first song they’ve recorded together since the much beloved “The Mom Song” from the early 2000s. As Violent J and Str8Jacket got the track ready for laying down vocals, I sat down with the Rude Boy to find out about his recent heart problems and brush with mortality…and about this new and exciting project that he and Violent J are collaborating on.

Thanks for sitting down with me, Rude Boy. I think the most logical place to start would to ask when you first realized you were having heart problems?

Well, I actually can’t tell you when exactly the heart attack happened. What I can tell you is that a week after Gathering 17, I was out mowing the lawn and I felt a weird chest pain. I didn’t think nothing of it at first but I went to my doctor a week later and told him what happened and he put me on an EKG to check everything out and that actually turned out OK. Then a few months later, I was back in his office because I was still experiencing chest pain. So he put me back on the EKG and he immediately told me to see a cardiologist because he told me “You’ve had a heart attack sometime over the last few months. We can’t pinpoint when, but you’ve had this heart attack.” Within four days of diagnosing me, they went in through the artery of my right arm with a camera and stints in the hope that they could just opening up my arteries. Unfortunately, when they came out they told me, “Look, you need a triple bypass. Now.” Two days later I was put into intensive care for the surgery and during the process there were two times that my heart stopped beating—I actually died. They had to shock me back and unfortunately they weren’t able to finish the job when they were in my chest, so on the 14th of this month I have to go and get another stint. My heart took too much trauma that day I had my first surgery and they just had to stop. They just couldn’t go on at that time.

When you came to after that surgery and the doctors told you that you had actually died twice on the operating table, what went through your mind?

Well, the first thing I wondered was “Where did these bruises on my chest come from?” And it turned out those were from the paddles they had to use to shock me back to life. I was like “You kidding me?” I couldn’t believe it because when you’re under those type of anesthetics and you wake up, it feels like only 10 minutes have passed. Little did I know it was 9 hours. But the first thing I thought was “Wow. I obviously still have a purpose here on Earth. There’s still some reason I’m alive.” I thanked God and I looked up and I saw my family crammed around the hospital room and my cell phone was just blowing up from everyone on tour—Joe, Joey, Carlito, just everyone. That’s one of those surreal moments where you realize you take life for granted sometimes and now I smell the roses a whole different way.

Let’s be clear here. This wasn’t just a brush with death—you literally died. Twice. How has this brush with mortality changed you both spiritually and emotionally?

I’ve always proclaimed that I’m a born-again Christian, so if death happens, I’m not worried. I know where I’m going. Of course, I don’t want to die; I have family who depends on me. Not just family but the different civic and community organizations that I help, especially during the holidays. This year we weren’t able to do much because of my recovery. Walking into Psychopathic Records two weeks after surgery and seeing everybody was just…man, again, sometimes you just take things for granted. And one of the biggest things that meant so much is that even though Violent J was on the great Riddle Box Tour at the time this went, he was immediately blowing up everyone in my family’s phones because he knew the severity of this. I’m not preaching or anything but the reason why I’m alive—and the doctors told me this—is because I’ve never smoked. They said “Your lungs are strong, man!” So my message to everyone is don’t let what I had to go through be in vain.

That leads me directly into my next question. You’re still a young guy. What exactly led to your heart problems at such a young age?

Well, unfortunately, both my parents died of heart disease. My mother not only had heart attacks but she also had a stroke, and my father, believe it or not survived 11 heart attacks and three open heart surgeries. But you’re talking about people who grew up in a different time. My parents were both smokers and ate every fried food you could think of. Fortunately for us in our generation, we’re educated a lot more about health so we can live longer if that’s the way the ball bounces.

Now you’re here at Psychopathic Records today working on a special project with Violent J. Can you tell me about that?

Oh yeah. For many years, people have been talking to us over and over about “The Mom Song.” To be honest with you, it’s one of the things I’m most proud of that I’ve ever done at Psychopathic. There we were in Albuquerque, New Mexico and we were wondering what we could get our mothers for Mother’s Day. You can buy your mom anything but Joe and I were on the bus and we said to each other “Hey, man, let’s write a song!” We found a studio and later we presented the song to our mom’s and that was such an incredible day because the song was so heartfelt. When we released it, we just said, “Well, let’s just put it out there and see what kind of response it gets.” And holy shit, the response was just overwhelming. People just had this intense love it. People were talking about how they played it at their mom’s funeral, or played it during the mother-son dance at their wedding. So since we realized that song so many years ago, we’ve always been asked “Why don’t you do more songs together?” That and “Why don’t you perform it live?” But throughout this ordeal I’m going through, Joe came up to me and said, “Rudy, why don’t we get back in the studio? Let’s do what we do, man. Let’s just get in there and school it.” And then he said “We’d like to release this on Psychopathic and we’d like to give you and your family all of the proceeds.” Because when you go through open-heart surgery, you’re out of commission for at least 4-6 months; I don’t care who you are. When you’re trying to walk upstairs and you can’t breathe, that’s a reality check right there. You just can’t go out and earn money. So he came up with this great idea and that’s what I’m doing here today.

I understand that the new song you’re working on with Violent J today is called “The Kids Song.” Can you tell me more about it?

Right. First we put out “The Mom Song” and now it’s “The Kids Song.” It’s a positivity song. We’re both parents of great children and since we honored our moms and dads in “The Mom Song,” we’re doing this for our children. It’s something we can leave for them where we’re dead and gone. One of the coolest things I’ve ever been a part of in my lifetime was that “Backyard Wrestling” video game because no matter where I go in my lifetime, I’ll always be immortalized in that game. And it’s the same thing with this music. So we’re excited about this and I’m confident that it’s gonna be really cool. I know one thing: Love it or hate it, there’s a genius right now working on that song downstairs in the studio and sometimes you get blessed enough to be in the studio with that genius.

I understand the plan is to release both “The Mom Song” and “The Kids Song” on a limited edition CD, have both you and Violent J sign it, and then all the proceeds will go to you and your family during this financially hard time.

Yes, I’m very humbled by it and very thankful. I have to record it today because next Wednesday I have to go back into surgery to get that last stint and then the recovery has to start all over again. But let me clear on this—this is not a pity party for Rudy Hill. I am so blessed to be sitting here across from you talking about this.

Violent J has told many stories over the years about growing up with the Rude Boy and one he mentioned to me this morning that I’d love to hear you elaborate on is that you were the one who introduced him to the infamous Zug Island on the Detroit River.

Absolutely. Joe would stay the night at my house and every night from them pouring the steel on Zug Island mixed with all that toxic waste and pollution it would light up the sky at midnight. It was so bright it was like daytime. And it still goes on to this day—every night at midnight on Zug Island, there’s this explosion of light in the sky. You could see the Detroit River from my house and we were up in my room just chilling and listening to some music and all of a sudden Joe was like “What the fuck?!” because there was this giant bright light coming out of Zug Island. And I was immune to it because I’d seen it 100 times and he’s like “What is that?!” I told him that was Zug Island and he got all excited and wanted to know everything about it, so that night we walked to it—it was about a mile away—and as we got closer and closer, the security started to bum rush us so we were like “Holy shit! There’s some serious stuff going on in there.” Later, there were a few times we actually made it over there and I’m sure some of those toxins are in my body right now.

In conclusion I want to talk about these upcoming fundraisers for you and your family. I understand that the first one is tomorrow night (Saturday, December 10) at the Diesel Lounge. Can you tell me about that?

It’s been put together by a group called NFG Promotions and Management and they came to me and said “Hey, man, we’ve seen what you’ve done for so many people in Detroit throughout the years, so now it’s time to give back to you, Rudy.” They got together some great artists and all of the major independent wrestling promotions in Michigan, who all hate each other. But for real, they put aside their differences and they all came together for Rude Boy. And that is unheard of; were talking about promoters who hate one another saying “We’re gonna send our guys out to help the Rude Boy” because of what I’ve done in the past. I’m so humbled by that. And here’s the thing—I’ve never asked for anything in return; giving should only be done for the sake of giving. To have all these people pull together for me is just so humbling. There’s many times where I’m sitting at home looking at a stack of bills going “What am I going to do, man? I’m the breadwinner.” I was talking to my doctor after I got out of surgery and he told me “You’re gonna go through depression,” and I was like “Yeah, right” because I’m a positive person. But I’ll be damned—I’m going through depression now. But tomorrow at the Diesel is going to be amazing. The guys from Critical Bill said “You have to have the party at the Diesel” and I want to send a very special thank you to those guys; they have hearts of gold. Keegan, the Juggalo comedian, will be hosting the event. DJ Clay, who I actually brought to Psychopathic Records. Razor Ray from Motown Rage will be there and many more including an ‘80s hair band tribute called Whiskey A-Go-Go, and you know how much I love music from the ‘80s. The suggestion donation is $10 but if you only have $5 or $1, come down. It doesn’t matter. Every little bit helps and I’m so thankful. One thing I have to say—there were some naysayers who were wondering why this fundraiser was announced before anything Psychopathic announced. Well, that’s because they were still on the Riddle Box Tour when shit went down and because they were still planning and organizing the event in February by the time this first one came up.

So let’s conclude on that note and talk about the big fundraiser ICP is presenting in February on you and your family’s behalf at the Majestic.

I’m so thankful for that. I still don’t know all the details about it but I just that Joe came up to me and just said, “Rudy, man, you know we’re putting one down for you.” And I’m humbled and thankful for everything. Everything. I know that people care for me and the thing that’s most amazing is when you’re hurting and people come to you and say, “Rudy, we got you, man. We got you.” And this straight out of Joe Bruce’s mouth: “You know what you gotta do, Rudy? You need to just recover. Because we need you for those Gatherings. We need you for that Juggalo March. You’ve got to be there hosting stages at the Gathering. You gotta be at Juggalo Day. These are important things that we created!” And one of the heartfelt things that Shaggy said to me was “It wouldn’t be the same without you.” And you know, if seems like such an easy phrase that you can just blow off but it means a lot to me. It’s heartfelt. And it feels amazing, man.

Wow. I can’t think of a better and more powerful ending to a Hatchet Herald than that so I’m just gonna get out of here now. Please keep Rudy in your prayers and try to attend his fundraiser this Saturday at the Diesel Lounge. I will see you there!

With Juggalo Family Love,

J-Webb

26 Nov2016

Direct from JWebb...It's The Hatchet Herald

What up, Juggalos?! This is your pal J-Webb with a new wallop of flavor from the world of the mighty Hatchet! And what a wallop it is! Holy shit! Let me tell you about this wig-flipping meeting we had last night that could “MAYBE” result in some of the biggest and freshest flavor in many, many red moons!

In the meeting it was myself (looking all dapper in a fresh Michael Jackson-style purple fedora hat, a black T-shirt with a shiny ass purple Prince logo on the front which matched my hat, some old school, classic, perfectly fitting, black parachute pants with about 9 zippers up and down each leg, and some fuckin purple Bapesta shoes; out-of-style yes, but fresh from the box, nonetheless. And my shoes matched my Prince logo shirt and my fedora hat in case you wondered. ANYWAY, moving on...) Violent J, Jumpsteady, Billy Bill, and this cool documentary filmmaker named Brenna. Her and her partners are well known, award-winning documentary filmmakers. They made this amazing documentary about Detroit firefighters called “Burn” that not only won a shitload of awards at film festivals around the planet but it was also VERY financially successful for a documentary about a serious subject. After touring with “Burn” for almost two years, they decided to settle onto the topic for their next documentary. And Brenna—being from Detroit— and after reading a huge article in the New York Times about the FBI’s official classification of the family as a “hybrid gang” knew exactly what her next subject would be about. Smooth moves, Brenna. Perfect!

Juggalos.

So Brenna had her team contact Psychopathic Records (us) back in 2013 and pitch the idea to us: They wanted to make a fair and balanced film looking deep into the Juggalo subculture and try to figure out WHY THE FUCK exactly Juggalos were considered one of America’s Top 10 gangs and a public menace. We agreed to participate in their documentary and they got to work filming and interviewing both everyone at Psychopathic as well as dozens and dozens of Juggalos from across the nation. They filmed the fuck out of the 2014 Gathering of the Juggalos, catching some film footage you won’t believe. They also traveled the states, filming crazy shit like seminars that were given by so called “Juggalo authority figures” about how to detect “Juggalos” and the “gang sets” which they belong to in the area. They even interviewed ACTUAL Juggalo gangs. Like, the REAL DEAL Crips and Bloods shit! Hell, we didn’t even realize how serious these actual GANG-gangs of Juggalos were, but apparently they are out there, doing dirt!—However, even Brenna pointed out that in regards to regular Juggalos, these actual “Juggalo gang members” make up a VERY VERY small percentage of the family at large.

So Brenna is blowing our wigs back in this meeting and telling us all about the dope footage they’ve captured that really explores the Juggalo subculture for what it is—a family of people who feel that they’re outcasts, all drawn together by a mutual love of some crazy-as-fuck, yet deeper-than-the Atlantic music. And she explained that they really looked closely into the whole FBI labeling of Juggalos as a gang; her and her partner Tom apparently went about as deep into their research as Steve Miller did in his book “Juggalo: Insane Clown Posse and the World They Created.” And if you haven’t picked up Steve’s book yet, your seriously sleepin’ and missing out on a fascinating read. Ninjas…GO GET THAT SHIT! For real! It’s the most in-depth examination of how and WHYJuggalos are being profiled and labeled a gang. Brenna’s documentary is basically the cinematic side of Steve’s book and she described some scenes that they had shot that, let’s just say, the cops and Feds are NOT going to like.

But the main purpose of the meeting was that Brenna had come to ask for Psychopathic’s assistance with promoting a Kickstarter campaign needed to raise the funds to properly finish researching, shooting, editing, and distributing this majorly epic film.

We thought about it. And then we thought about it a little more. And then Violent J verbally smacked us all upside the head with an awesome idea for a Kickstarter that made me almost bust a nut in my shiny, new parachute pants! I’m talking here as both a Juggalo and a Psychopathic employee.

But first, let me give you a quick run down if you don’t know what a Kickstarter or GoFundMe campaign is (both are the same concept, just different names). It’s basically an online fundraiser to raise money for various projects, from films to trips, opperations to funeral expenses. There are different levels of donation and depending on how much you contribute, the more freshness you get. Example: I once donated $30 to my friend Henrique’s Kickstarter campaign to fund his independent movie comedy “An Awkward Thanksgiving” (it’s listed on IMDB.com—check it out if you don’t believe me). For giving him that $30, I got an advanced copy of the DVD as well as Henrique’s autograph. If I had donated like $100, my name would’ve gotten in the credits as an “Executive Producer” or some shit like that.

So Violent J hit us with an idea for what ninjas would get for a TOP TEIR $300 donation towards the Kickstarter to complete Brenna and her team’s Juggalo documentary. Envision this: You donate a fat ass sum of $300 to the Kickstarter. And in return, you a special ticket would get you through the doors and into what would perhaps easily be THE MOST EXCLUSIVE CONCERT EVENT IN PSYCHOPATHIC RECORD’S HISTORY!

First, let me set the scene. There’s this a brand new concert venue. Located where? Smack dab in the heart of ICP’s old stomping grounds -- Southwest motherfuckin' Detroit! But this new venue aint just in Southwest y'all, it’s right on motherfuckin’ Vernor Avenue directly across the street from Clark Park! I’m not even kidding. This new place is called El Club. This is LITERALLY where ICP was born! Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope and their gangsta homies spent years hanging out in this very neighborhood when they were younger and many of the landmarks of this area – Clark Park, Vernor Ave, Mexican Village, etc – have been named dropped in countless ICP songs over the years: “Juggalo Party,” “Posse on Vernor” just to name two. Well, El Club is smack dab in the middle of that very neighborhood. The fuckin’ actual birthplace of Inner City Posse!

Here’s the thing though, the El Club only holds 500 people—it’s a very small, old school style but new, gritty rock club. It’s the perfect location for what Psychopathic is considering - (NOTHING’S CONFIRMED YET, SO GENTY HOLD ON TO YOUR BALLS) for top tier contribution level’s second event that you will personally witness - in return for your huge $300 donation towards the completion of Brenna and company’s film.

FIRST, LET'S LET VIOLENT J SPEAK ON IT:

"The thing is in 2017, by organizing the Juggalo March on Washington, it’s obviously clear that it’s Psychopathic’s mission to better the image of Juggalos. We feel the family deserves massive respect for what they truly are. They're not a fuckin' gang or a punchline for some TV comedy. Juggalos are incredible. They have grown into an innovative, creative, super supportive subculture unlike anything in the history of music. Juggalos started out as just ICP fans, yes, but today they seek out and discover original, eccentric, colorful and charismatic artists and loyally and faithfully as a massive underground family, support the fuck out of them. And the acts they find and support are not on the radio stations or video channels; these acts they discover themselves. Many of them emerge from within the Juggalo movement themselves and maintain a career of living their dream as an artist performing their music, touring the country or world even, all strictly for Juggalos. How fuckin' incredible is that? Can anything else even be compared to such a thing? No. Yet Juggalos get no respect and even get labeled a gang, because our own government don't even know how to describe their unity and love for each other. And people fear what they don't understand. Therefore most of the media and the public has stamped Juggalos with a big fat fuckin “NEGATIVE” and we hate that. We’re setting out in 2017, “The Year of the Juggalos,” to change all that. Juggalos deserve respect and recognition for how original and incredible they truly are. Brenna’s documentary is something we believe will help us achieve this and that's why we’re willing to do what we’re willing to do to see it come out!”

IF PSYCHOPATHIC DECIDES TO DO THIS… As mentioned before, your top tear $300 donation would get you a ticket (personally designed by ICP, no less)—for admission to an exclusive, private concert from ICP that will shear the very pubic hairs off your balls and place them on your woman’s chin, giving her a pubic goatee: We’re talking about ICP, in a small, 500 capacity venue located smack dap in the middle of Southwest Detroit, right on Vernor Ave, performing in it’s entirety… THE CARNIVAL OF CARNAGE ALBUM!!!

What could be more appropriate than performing the 1st Joker’s Card that lit the fuse of the powder keg that exploded and became the Dark Carnival RIGHT where it was all conceived? This would be an EPIC, LIFE CHANGING EVENT for die hard Juggalos! ICP’s full performance of the almighty 1st Joker’s Card. In a small, 500 capacity venue! It’s also worth noting that despite ICP getting their start in Southwest Detroit—THEY HAVE NEVER PERFORMED A SHOW THERE EVER! And to get admission…you just have to help Brenna and her team complete their documentary about the injustice being done to our family. We at Psychopathic believe that this documentary about the Juggalo family is needed now more than ever as we plan the Juggalo March in Washington, D.C. this coming September, where the family will unite in full force to scream to the nation as loud as we can that WE ARE NOT A GANG BUT A FAMILY! Imagine how dope it would be to have a professionally made documentary about us from an award-winning filmmaking team?!

Now as of right now, this is just in the planning stages and we have to wait for Brenna to give us the OK and also to set up the Kickstarter campaign. But wouldn’t that be the DOPEST donation prize EVER? Stay tuned to insaneclownposse.com for more updates on this topic as they come to light.

Review news articles and interviews, tour dates, comics, and filmography of the ICP and various Psychopathic Records artists.

In other flavor, after we get back to work on Monday, we’re immediately going to start prepping for the next Psychopathic Psypher called “If We Were A Gang,” which will debut on January 1, 2017. It’s highly doubtful that we’ll all be sipping champagne on New Year’s Eve because not only are we dropping this new Psypher—which is a dope way to kick off the very year we go to Washington, D.C. to get in the FBI’s face and bring the Juggalo message of family and unity to the nation’s capital—but we’ll also be launching www.juggalomarch.com, which provides a big overview as to WHY we’re marching and WHY WE NEED EVERY JUGGALO AND AMERICAN WHO CARES ABOUT FREEDOM AND INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS TO BE THERE!

(Quick note: DON’T FORGET WE’RE DOING OUR VERY FIRST WEST COAST GATHERING OF THE JUGGALOS ALSO IN 2017! STAY TUNED FOR A BIG ANNOUNCEMENT SOON!),

As for www.JuggaloMarch.com more info will be added bit by bit, such as what hotels will be available to stay at and shit, plus the site will tell you all the important info you’ll need to understand exactly why we’re marching, where we are marching, and you’ll even meet some of the people who have been personally affected by the FBI’s gang labeling. So on New Year’s Day, put down the champagne flute for a minute to check out all the dope freshness as The Year of the Juggalos begins.

In conclusion, Juggalos, I’m writing this on the night before Thanksgiving (even though it will be posted on the day after). I’m pondering what it is I’m thankful for and Lord knows, I have a lot of blessings to count as we head into 2017. I’m thankful for my family, the opportunity to do cool shit like design record albums, and work with some of my best friends in the entire world. But I’m especially thankful for YOU. Yes, you, the Juggalo reading this right now. If I didn’t have my Juggalo brothers and sisters having my back, I can only imagine what gutter I’d be lying in right now – or if I’d even still be alive. Our family is stronger than ever and I can sense that going into 2017, that diamond hurricane is going to sweep every last fucking one of us off our feet, from some of the most epic concerts ICP has ever performed to the Juggalo family joining in solidarity in Washington, D.C. for the Juggalo March on Saturday, February 16, 2017. As this year comes to a slow close, we gear up and prepare to better ourselves during the Year of the Juggalo. Let’s stay strong, stay united, stay focused and never forget one another or leave a fellow Juggalo family member behind.

So I give thanks to you, my friends, even if we’ve never met in person. You’ve touched my life. And I’m thankful that the Hatchet has touched yours.

Mad Clown Luv,

J-Webb

17 Nov2016

Direct from JWebb.....it's the Hatchet Herald!

Juggalo brothers and sisters, what the fuck is UUUUUUPPP!!?? Ready for a looooong ass Hatchet Herald??? ‘Cause we got one for that ass! All unexpected like, too!

This is your pal J-Webb coming at you with this new fresh ass Hatchet Herald a lil’ earlier than usual. We’re supposed to do these every other Friday but the thing is, as any writer can tell you, when the magic of positive inspiration strikes, you grab hold of it and squeeze it until every drop of karma and creative light within you gets splattered on that page.

Like many ninjas around here I’m not a man that follows any particular organized religion, but I remember that Bible verse from when I was a kid that said “My cup runneth over with joy.” That’s how I feel right now because I’m looking ahead at next year—2017 and I’m just fucking glowing about how much flavor awaits the Juggalo family. 2017. Man, this is only year of our lives that will include that sacred Dark Carnival number 17. And I don’t about you, but I can feel the magic and I see those brightly lit storm clouds accumulating in the distance that’s going to bring a sparkling storm, nay, a shimmering HURRICANE, of diamond rain. And together, we are all going to bask in the illuminated glory.

So let me just school you with an update on some of the flavor that’s coming up (just a smidgen of the flavor) as we transition from 2016 to the ultimate Year of the Juggalo…2017.

First and foremost on Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving), record stores everywhere will be stocking the fresh, ultra collectible 7” vinyl reissue of the old school, original version of ICP’s iconic EP “A Carnival Christmas,” which has never before been released nationwide in any form.This 4-track dope wax includes 4 Yuletide songs that are guaranteed to raise your holiday spirits weather Santa thinks you’ve been good or not. You won’t give a fuck what Santa thinks. When you’re at your aunt’s holiday party this season, spike the eggnog with some Faygo, put on this record and watch her turn into a senior citizen Juggalo party animal! Merry fucking Christmas INDEED! “A Carnival Christmas” comes out the day after Thanksgiving in fine record stores, and is available on Hatchet Gear, and of course you can just scoop your copy from us in person at the Big Ballas Christmas Party on December 17 at Pop’s in Sauget, IL! And may The Great Creator above us bless us all! Everyone, mother facko!!

As we make the official switch from 2016 to the magical, unbelievable year of 2017, Psychopathic is going to be dropping some New Year’s flavor that will flip yo clowny wig. First of all, the official website of the Juggalo March will be going LIVE onwww.juggalomarch.com.It provides all the basic information as to why we are asking the Juggalo Fam to join us at the National Mall by the Lincoln Memorial on Saturday, September 16, 2017 (hint: Watch “Forrest Gump” sometime soon and the spot where Forrest and Abbie Hoffman—the dude in the American flag jacket—give speeches on the Vietnam war?That’s where the march kicks off). The Website will also reveal who we’ve asked to perform for free at the two bombastic concerts at The Jiffy Lube Ampitheatre, as well as who has so far accepted!

But also on January 1, Psychopathic is dropping a fresh new infomercial that you ARE NOT expecting. For real. Starring the entire Psychopathic Family roster, we’ve never done an infomercial like the one you are about to see this New Year’s Day. The ENTIRE Hatchet Roster will all be delivering a timely and important message that ALL Juggalos need to hear as we enter this new year/new age of the Juggalo family. In 2017 we intend to inspire Juggalos to change there lives for the better! Juggalos. This is THE YEAR! The year that all of us need to make our lives—and each other’s lives—great. Better than they ever have been. It’s time to do what Michael Jackson advised us to do back in 1987, and take a good look at the Man in the Mirror (or woman), “take a look at yourself and make a change.” I already know what I’m doing to make MY change. This isn’t easy for me to admit—at all—but all change requires bravery. In 2017, I am going to seek the helpful therapy that I need for my Borderline Personality Disorder, which I’ve wrestled with my entire life. This still-misunderstood form of mental illness basically makes you act like Jeckyl and Hyde and go through mood swings that can literally switch in seconds. If I’m going to partake in the magic that 2017 offers, I have to get emotionally right, healthy, and I have to be strong. No one asks to be cursed with a mental illness, or any Illness, or any thing about yourself that causes you unhappiness… but the way I say it, either I can wrestle that bitch to the ground and take control of it, and pound it’s fuckin’ head in, stomp the life out of it, and bury it dead forever…or I just continue to let it control me. Let the shine of 2017 empower us all to make the changes we need to in order to shine hard and be fully happy about ourselves and our lives. You get out of this life what you put into it. And it’s time to start putting in the necessary work to make whatever changes need to be made to find your personal happiness. 2017 is our year, and let the fresh ass results of the changes we make to better ourselves in the year of 2017 last for the rest of our lives.

I’m taking control of my life, Juggalos, and if you’re in the throes of addiction, an unhealthy relationship, an untreated mental or physical illness, a job or career that you hate, whatever is bringing you down, its time to KILL IT DEAD.

Let us unite at the historical first ever West Coast Gathering of the Juggalos which promises to be extremely epic and entirely unpredictable. It will be the ultimate adventure! The Hatchet is fearless! After 17 years, it’s finally the Juggalos on the West Coast’s turn for the Gathering to be held on their side of the country! Let’s all come together and fuckin’ beam out a karmic blast that will out shine the sun itself!!

Also they call us a movement? Well then let’s MOVE! We need to truly do this. We need to tell the country that we’re not a fuckin’ gang, we’re a FAMILY! If we don't come together and march to show that we are NOT OK with that lingering fuckin’ gang label that has caused so many bones for so many of us, than we might as well be a stupid ass gang. WE HAVE TO SHOW THEM OUR STRENGTH! If this music has saved your life, if it has helped you through hard times, then stand up for it publicly! Because we need you there! Juggalos, please promise each other that we will enter 2017—the Year the Juggalos—with the goal to Take Back Our Name with the Juggalo March on Washington, DC — with renewed spirits, karma, love for one another, and most of all…unity. This is OUR year. Let’s kick the ass of those demons that we wrestle with and powerbomb those motherfuckers into a pile of thumbtacks that would make Cactus Sac flash his famous toothless smile.

ARE YOU WITH ME!? Good! Now let’s talk about what else we can look forward to as we transition to this new year.

OH! Before I forget! This past weekend, we shot a fucking BOMB ASS video for Blahzay Roze’s song “White Lights,” which deals very explicitly with domestic abuse. I was talking to Jumpsteady this morning about the shoot and he said it was just flat out UN-FUCKING-BELIEVABLE!! And Violent J told me that he literally felt the presence of God at that video shoot. There was just some kind of higher force hovering over the video shoot this past weekend that ensures that this video is going to reach—and resonate—with a lot of people. As a Juggalo (I will always be a Juggalo first and a Psychopathic employee second), I can’t WAIT to see this shit! So stay tuned because that video should be dropping on our YouTube channel very soon!

And the video content at Psychopathic just keeps fucking COMING! We’re actively making the necessary moves to shoot a fresh ass new year Hatchet Family Psypher with the ENTIRE Psychopathic roster that will drop in the first month of January. The title of the Psypher will be called…”If We Were a Gang.” I can’t think of a better theme for entering 2017 than a song like that. Since 2017 is the year we stop waiting for the goddamn legal system to provide justice for Juggalos. Enough of this court case shit; Judges have thrown out our case three times. Well, fuck that, we will be heard! We’re going to Washington, D.C. to get in the FBI’s face. And a Hatchet Psypher called “If We Were a Gang” sounds like a dope ass anthem for this historic event in not only Juggalo history but also in all of America’s music history.

I touched on this briefly above but I want to talk about my passion project; the thing that gives me unlimited karma—Psychopathic’s vinyl releases! I’m not one of those obsessive vinyl collectors that has dozens of milk crates filled with LPs—that’s Shaggy 2 Dope—but I do collect those albums that have truly touched my life and have come to be like old friends to me. In my wax stack, you’ll find stuff ranging from the Beach Boys “Pet Sounds,” to Skip Spence’s “Oar,” to an original pressing of Schoolly D’s OG classic “Smoke Some Kill.” And now I get to be project manager on the Psychopathic wicked shit that changed my life years ago!

First, on Feb 3, we’re releasing the remastered 180-gram picture disc version of the classic ICP EP “Tunnel of Love”… on VINYL!!! We chose this title and date because what could be more perfect for Valentine’s Day?! We’re also releasing an ultra limited edition of the notorious XXX-version of “Tunnel of Love”… on VINYL, which will only be available at concerts, Hatchet Gear, and behind the counter at some of our braver independent record stores. This is going to be a LIMITED edition and when we say limited we mean exactly that! Don’t count on this piece of pornographic paradise ever being repressed!

Juggalo collectors of vinyl are probably passing out right now! Only to wake up and pass out again! Who would of ever thought the “Tunnel of Love” EP would ever be out on vinyl? And also the XXX version? Fuck I’m about to pass ou—-

Remember in the last Hatchet Herald when I alluded that there would be a super rare collectable ONLY available at Juggalo Weekend 2017 in February? Well, why the fuck not—I’m going to drop that flavor on you right now….

As you know the headliner for the second night of Juggalo Weekend is Dark Lotus performing their legendary and spooky-as-fuck, debut album “Tales From the Lotus Pod” in it’s entirety for the first and only time ever. For sale at the merch stand that weekend—and LIMITED TO ONLY 500 NUMBERED COPIES—is the first ever vinyl pressing of that Juggalo classic album!!! That’s right “Tales From The Lotus Pod” on vinyl!!! This big ass, bad, motherfucker is a 180-gram, double LP. These 500 special collectors edition versions will come with a commemorative Juggalo Weekend 2017 sticker on the front and each copy will be individually numbered. Again, only 500 will be sold, making this an INSTANT collector’s piece! A little over a month later, towards the end of March, the retail vinyl version of “Tales From the Lotus Pod” will be released in stores nationwide. But if you want that ULTRA-RARE, one time only Juggalo Weekend edition…You’ll have to just be crazy enough to actually be there in Florida in February and scoop that bitch up!

In one more dope ass piece of vinyl related news… speaking of songs you never ever in your wildest dreams thought would be pressed on vinyl, I was talking to Violent J this morning and he told me Psychopathic’s just confirmed plans for a double-disc record album of Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope’s all-time favorite rare tracks, pressed on high quality wax for the first time ever. One disc will have J’s favorite ICP rarities, the other will have Shaggy personal picks – and this special, personally selected collection of songs will ONLY be available on vinyl LP. We’re talking about songs like “Wicked Rappers Delight,” “Pull Your Panties to the Side,” “Fuck My Dad” all the rarest shit that true, hardcore Juggalos LOVE. And don't ever think we’ve given up on CDs, like most of the world has, we’re just stepping our vinyl game up because NINJAS WANT IT. Ninjas want ICP on vinyl and so Psychopathic will gladly deliver! With more releases coming as well… many more! So if you don’t have a record player, now may be the time to invest in one because we got MAD wax flavor coming out in 2017 and beyond!

And now, Juggalos, allow me the pleasure of introducing Psychopathic’s new studio engineer/beat maker/all-around super sound ninja, the one and only STR8JAKET! You may have seen him performing at one of the Gatherings, or performing with Tech N9ne, or maybe you’ve admired his fresh graphic design skills (Little known fact: It was Str8Jaket who designed the fresh ass logos for Gathering 16 and Gathering 17!). His talents come in many forms as this ninja is extremely gifted. Therefore we are psyched as FUCK to welcome this crazy skilled ninja to our squad of Hatchet soldiers and you’re going to fuckin’ lose your shit when you realize just how talented and fresh this ninja actually is. So everyone, please say hello to the one and only Str8jaket!

Welcome to the Hatchet, Str8jaket! Your reputation certainly precedes you. You’ve done production work with Big Hoodoo, ABK, Twiztid, Smokehouse Junkiez, and many other big names in Detroit hip-hop. And you’re also a very accomplished musician in your own right, opening for Tech N9ne, Prozak, Bone Thugs, and, of course, you have played at several Gatherings. How does it feel to now officially be a part of the Hatchet?

It’s amazing, man. A dream come true. It came from out of the blue. Violent J called me up one day and invited me down to the Lotus Pod for an interview and also to see what I could do on the console.

How long we’re you in that interview for?

Oh, a few hours. A lot of talking about the future of Psychopathic, the music industry in general and how it’s changed so much in just the last five years. Getting to sit down with Violent J and get all this knowledge from him firsthand about the past, present, and future of Psychopathic and hip hop in general was just fucking amazing.

What kind of things were you doing at the console during that initial meeting?

First I was getting just used to the console itself. I’m used to recording and producing out of my home studio which is a lot way from Lotus Pod. But it was amazing sitting there in that chair in front of that board. They had me do some recording, I worked on a beat with DJ Clay for Shaggy’s solo album, which was the shit. The whole meeting was mostly just me soaking it all in and absorbing as much information as I possibly could. I realized this is a once-in-a lifetime possibility and realizing, sitting there, that my whole fucking life is about to change. And it’s just fucking great and an honor.

So it’s basically your first week on the job. What are you working on now?

Well, I’m working closely with Kuma, who is training me and showing some secrets and shortcuts to working in the Lotus Pod and also at the Cabin In the Woods studio. Right now, it’s just training and preparation to ensure I’m confident and comfortable enough with the consoles and everything so I can hit the ground running when it’s time to really record and make beats. My first big assignment will be working with Psychopathic’s newly signed artist but I don’t want to elaborate on that.

In closing, any message for the Juggalos?

Get ready for some freshness in 2017, fam! I’m ready to ride hard for the Hatchet and rep Psychopathic in the best light possible. We are going to be releasing a fucking avalanche of flavor in 2017 and it’s a fucking honor to be able to be a part of it.

Well, ninjas, there you have it. The Hatchet Family is literally growing both in size and strength and we stand on the edge of a new era in the Psychopathic’s history. We have a roster of musicians who are creating some of the finest Juggalo entertainment to every come out of Psychopathic Records. We are preparing to bring the infamous Gathering of the Juggalos to our nation’s WEST SIDE!!! And of course 2017 is the year of the once in our life time event. Together, in front of the eyes of the media and at our nation’s capital we will flex the mightiness of our Juggalo family and we will MARCH and the PARTY!!!! We stand ready to enter 2017—the sacred Year of the Juggalo—with our eyes forward and totally focused in concentration, ready to take on any foe or meet any challenge. The underground belongs to the Hatchet!

Brace yourself, Juggalo brothers and sisters, for the hurricane of diamonds is about to sweep the Juggalo nation up into a tornado of karma! Beaming out light in every direction! We are only a few short weeks away from entering our very own life changing year - 2017—OUR year—prepare yourself ninjas for it’s arrival. It’s time to work. Stretch out your limbs and take a deep breath because change is coming. Change for the better so get your ass ready. Stand strong. Please believe we are chosen, and blessed to have each other. We don't exactly know why, or how but we do know it’s fuckin’ real because we’ve felt it for years. 17 is definitely our number and 2017 is our time. The Dark Carnival spirits stand behind us, ready to provide us with the extra karma we need to ensure that 2017 is a year of epic proportions not only for the Juggalo World, but for each and every one of our own personal lives.

Ninjas, we love you. We exist to entertain you. Thank you for allowing us to contribute our label’s music to the soundtrack of this incredible subculture that you amazing Juggalo Ninjas have become. Thank you

There will never be another year like 2017, but you need not worry about that. Because the positive results 2017 will have on our Juggalo lives will indeed last forever

The hurricane of shimmering diamond rain is approaching. Its thunder sounds like 1000 wind chimes blowing in the cool breeze. Can you hear it, feel it? We sure as fuck can. And it’s absolutely fuckin’, straight up dope as fuck!

J-Webb

05 Nov2016

Direct from Psychopathic....It's the Hatchet Herald!

What the fuck is up, fam?! This is your pal J-Webb coming atcha with an overdue Hatchet Herald. I skipped a few because there wasn’t really anything to report or elaborate about except about the 2nd leg of the Riddle Box tour and Hallowicked 2016 … and who wants to read something saying “Buy your fucking tickets now before it’s too late!!!! AAAAAAAAARRRRRGGGH!” Obviously part of showbusiness is selling tickets to the Big Show and so we have to be all super hype to make everyone invest in a ticket, but is that worth devoting an entire Hatchet Herald too? Fuck no.

But fuck it. The Riddle Box Tour and Hallowicked are now finished and as we wrap up the ending of 2016, it’s a time of reflection and more importantly, a time of anticipation for 2017. 17. THE sacred number of the Dark Carnival. Consider this: 2017 will be the only time IN THE HISTORY OF OUR LIVES that we will experience Year 17. Something big is on the horizon, fam. Some of it is definitely anticipation and stomach butterflies about the Juggalo March on Washington, D.C., which goes down the weekend of September 15-17 in our nation’s capital. We’ve never done ANYTHING like this before and we don’t know if we’re going to fall on our ass or hit the moon. But as we plan for the Juggalo March, we’ve noticed a definite adjustment in the karma around Psychopathic headquarters. We can literally feel that 2017 is going to be unlike any other in our storied history – creative new products, a Juggalo Weekend that’s going to kick fucking ass, the first West Coast Gathering, a new artist who will revealed in the not-too-distant future, the March, and so much more. The funny thing, just working around the office, Violent J and Shaggy have been walking around saying that it’s going to be raining diamonds every day in 2017— a phrase they haven’t used regularly since the 6th Joker’s Card dropped in 2002. Violent J and I had a brief conversation and he told me that the positive effects that this coming year will last for the rest of our Juggalo lives. He didn’t elaborate even when I pushed for more details—he just gave me an enigmatic smile. So even *I* don’t know what’s all in store for next year…I just know I believe him when he says it’s going to be a year that will change the trajectory of the Juggalo Family forever. It’s a fucking head trip, man.

The evening will include Oddball Wrestling, ABK, Blahzay Roze, and of course, your friends the Insane Clown Posse doing holiday songs and some of their RAREST SONGS in their catalog, which as you know, has a LOT of hidden and forgotten gems. Ballas is always a fun ass night—J and Shaggs walk through the crowd and just chill with everyone and it’s a laid back, casual Juggalo Christmas party. Some people have been bitching online that Ballas is being moved out of Detroit but here’s my retort to anyone who’s pissed that we’re taking ICP traditions and sharing them with the Juggalos in the other parts of the country: WHY SHOULD ONLY CERTAIN AREAS GET TO ENJOY THE DARK CARNIVAL MAGIC?? Detroit will always be the homebase of ICP and Psychopathic Records, but we want to be able to share these traditions with those Juggalos who can’t always get to Detroit. It’s only fair. That’s why we’re also holding Juggalo Weekend in St. Petersburg, Florida. One, Detroit in February is FUCKING COLD AS MY EX BITCH’S HEART, and two, Florida has always been one of our strongest Juggalo states. So the Sunshine State gets to experience the magic of Juggalo Weekend on February 17 and 18. On night 1, it’s a dual headliner with Shaggy 2 Dope performing a rare solo set as well as a set from Psychopathic veterans TWIZTID! Night 2? Ahhhhhhhh shhhheeeeeit, fam. Dark-fucking-Lotus will be performing the wicked shit classic “Tales from the Lotus Pod” IN ITS ENTIRETY! And one more thing: There will be a highly limited collector’s item available at Juggalo Weekend that will only be available for ONE TIME ONLY! I’m not going to give it away but let’s just say that if you’re a collector, you are going to want to get your hands on this Secret Item. That’s the only hint I’m dropping here or will EVER drop about this exclusive and limited piece of merch. Just get those tickets now!

So that’s the general news/info on upcoming events. Oh shit! Almost forgot to remind everyone that ICP’s long out-of-print original version of A Carnival Christmas EP” will be available on 7” vinyl on Black Friday. It’s currently available for pre-order on Amazon.com here: https://www.amazon.com/Carnival-Christmas-EP-Vinyl/dp/B01LY6PZS4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1478294798&sr=8-1&keywords=icp+a+carnival+christmas and will also be available at most indie record stores as well as Hatchet Gear! And final reminders: Remember that Violent J’s audiobook of “Behind the Paint—Expanded and Updated” is now available via digital download at many audiobook sites, including Audible and iTunes. And the action figure-style USB drive is still available at Hatchet Gear. Whichever way you prefer it, you need to get that shit! It’s an audiobook unlike any other!

In closing I wanted to share with you a thought that came up in a discussion that I had with Violent J today. We spend a LOT of time talking about music since we both love and appreciate so many of the same artists – Michael Jackson, Prince, and the Beach Boys just to name a few. But today we got to talking about punk rock and the punk subculture which history remembers as exploding in the UK and New York in the late ‘70s as an expression of anger and rebellion from the young people who were living in an economic dark age of high inflation, crime, gas shortages, and rampant unemployment (for more on this, I recommend Jon Savage’s excellent book “England’s Dreaming”). Myself, I believe the first real punk rock bands were the MC5 and the Stooges, but as a resident of Detroit Murderous, I might be just a LITTLE biased.

But no matter where it truly started, punk has always been a philosophy of rebelliousness against the mainstream establishment and generally a way of young people saying to the older generations and the general public: “Fuck you.” While bands like the Sex Pistols, The Clash, The New York Dolls, Fear, the Dead Kennedys, Black Flag, Big Black, X-Ray Spex and many, many, many other bands get name dropped as being the titans of the punk ethos, it seems to me that the most punk band working today is … Insane Clown Posse.

Think about this: The original punks were despised, arrested, spat upon, and jeered by “normal” God-fearing citizens. After punk got watered down, exploited and morphed rather clumsily into New Wave around 1979, the whole movement by and large lost much of its bite (except maybe in L.A. where legendary bands like The Germs, X, Circle Jerks and more were just getting started). But today, the question of “What modern bands truly embody the punk philosophy?” often gets debated and argued over, usually by hollow-chested nerdies who use a blog strictly for writing about how “overrated” the Sex Pistols are (as a former newspaper editor, I used to encounter these cretins a lot. A LOT. They are exhausting).

Now think about this: What subculture today gets harassed, banned, labeled “criminals” and “degenerates,” and—in many parts of the country—can be arrested or escorted off property for wearing a certain logo?

Juggalos.

That’s it, friends. In a country where wearing the Hatchetman can lead to your arrest, inclusion onto a fucking stale gang list, or being fired from your job, or losing custody of your kids, being a Juggalo may be the most rebellious cultural act of the present age.

Sure, there’s plenty of hipsters who will spit out their soy lattes and cough on their Cinnabon-flavored e-juice at the mere notion that Juggalos are the last true “punks” in the world, but fuck ‘em. Punks were never considered a gang, investigated by the FBI, or subjected to the abuse and the harassment that Juggalos have endured for years.

And that’s why the Juggalo March is so important—to show the world on the grandest scale imaginable who we are and what we are NOT. This is why we need all of YOU to plan to be there in D.C. this coming fall. Because together we will rise above the din of voices that would try to silence us and call us “criminals,” or “gang members.” And I think the great John Lydon/Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols said it best in 1977 about what the March is really saying to the naysayers about us not being a gang but a family: “WE MEAN IT, MAAAAAAAAN!”

And we do. We really fucking do.

24 Sep2016

Direct from JWebb.....it's the Hatchet Herald!

Whutupdoe, ninjas? It’s your homie J-Webb up in this news neden hole. So the 2nd leg of the almighty Riddle Box tour kicked off last night in Cleveland. I wasn’t there, goddammit, but I heard that the show was off the fuckin’ hook. There was a lot riding on this show because it marked the very first time our new Hatchet artist BLAHZAY ROZE performed live in front of a Juggalo crowd. According to Violent J, the crowd fucking LOVED HER and gave her a loud and sincere “Family! Family!” chant as she finished her set. Juggalos, let me tell you something: SHE HAS EARNED THAT PRAISE! This young woman—who has been through more shit in her life than almost anyone I know—is THE REAL DEAL! Her brand of wicked shit is more psychological than what Psychopathic normally puts out, but that’s EXACTLY what gives Blahzay her uniqueness. She is rapping about shit that FEW OTHER WOMEN PERFORMERS DARE TO RAP ABOUT! Everything from date rape, to abusive relationships, to living with clinical depression. So to all you trolls who accused her of being “emo,” go fuck yourselves…because unlike a lot of those whiny ass emo bands who are playing on instruments that were purchased for them by their rich mommies and daddies…Blahzay is speaking directly from her heart. If it’s too much or too disturbing for you to listen to, then—as Guns N’ Roses once wrote on their advisory sticker for their “Use Your Illusion” albums—“You can fuck off and buy something from the New Age section!” To all of you who showed Blahzay love last night, thank you.

This incredibly long Riddlebox 20th Anniversary Tour is truly becoming an important chapter in Juggalo history. This small venue-only tour is in demand so hard, promoters continue to hit us up with offers to bring this tour to their town. The second leg of the tour has completely switched the flavor up as far as the line up goes, so even if you’ve already seen the tour, you might want to peep this bad boy out again. This is probably the very last time ICP will be touring Riddlebox, so if you haven't seen it yet, don't miss the flavor! This time, on the tour will be from the beautiful, peaceful and extremely violent city of Chicago none other than the dope MC … Trilogy! Also, all the way from New Orleans, the fucking amazing Cane Hill! Also rolling with us on this tour is the man ninjas everywhere have been hearing about, Detroit’s own Young Lite. Then the Psychopathic Records portion of this devastating tour begins with the previously mentioned, ultra controversial, Blahzay-fuckin-Roze. Also back to promote his new album “Asylum”, the Witchdoctor of Detroit himself live on stage, Psychopathic’s own Big Hoodoo. In between the acts will be the premier sounds of DJ Carlito spinning old school delights that will bring you back to the original days of the release of The Riddlebox on the wheels of steel. If this tour sounds entirely to fat to be a small venue-only event, it’s because it is! None the less it’s going down exactly how it sounds. Visit www.psychopathicrecords.com/tour-dates to see the dates of this extra special, final leg of the historical Riddlebox 20th Anniversary Tour!

Juggalos, we all know that change is a part of life that we all have to deal with, both personally and professionally. Psychopathic Records hasn't changed, but the world has changed around us. As publicist/scribe for the Hatchet, I’m the first one to admit that we haven't had the best luck in adjusting to the changes of the world, but we’re doing our best. I won’t go into details right now, but we have HUGE changes coming up in the way we run the day to day operations of our company, including Hatchet Gear and we are all crazy excited and geeked about all of these big changes. We also have some incredibly cool products in the works that are going to wag your clowny ass! But not only that, we truly believe that Psychopathic is truly in its prime. Every week we have meetings at Psychopathic headquarters and Violent J gets so excited and basically shouts at the top of his lungs that he believes that ICP is tighter on stage and in the studio and we as a company are more creative and hungrier now that we have ever been before. And he’s fucking RIGHT! We are peaking in our freshness! 2017 is right around the corner, fam! 17! The Juggalo March on Washington DC is going to be the biggest risk and the biggest move our company has ever made and we only look forward to the challenge. Anything could happen… the whole thing could blow the fuck up or flop like a wet pancake. But our small, yet super effective team of super ninjas working here in our offices are the absolute best we’ve ever had at Psychopathic Records.

OK, now I want you to really pay attention to what I’m about to drop.

I know J and Shaggy announced that next year’s Gathering was going to be in Colorado but it’s looking more and more like we might actually have no choice but to combine the two major events into one giant event and make The Juggalo March on Washington DC double as the 2017 Gathering of the Juggalos, because we know that most ninjas just cannot afford to attend them both. Especially with them being only months apart and on opposite ends of the country. This might be looked at as a major bone to some at first, but we here understand the importance of this March, as it is detrimental to our very Juggalo existence and our eternal legacy. We don't look at “The March” as a political move, because we don't even understand how politics work, but we do know that marching on Washington DC is the best possible way of letting the rest of the fuckin’ country and the world for that matter, know that we are NOT COOL with the discrimination that Juggalos endure every fuckin’ day of our lives. If we, especially Psychopathic Records, don't do anything about it, that’s basically the same as us all saying “We’re perfectly OK with being labeled a gang by the FBI and every bone that comes with it” and we ARE NOT OK with any of that bullshit. It’s been five years since the FBI officially declared Juggalos a “Hybrid Gang,” yet the effects of such a bullshit claim still continue to haunt us all on a constant basis and thus our lawsuit is still completely in effect and the fight to clear our name continues daily. There is much, much more to come about “The March” in the future, but we have now entered the “one year out” mark and thus we have now officially secured the weekend of September 15 -17, 2017 as the official date of this enormous event and the Jiffy Lube Amphitheater as the location of the massive 2 or 3 day free concert. Everything is still being worked out and put together as we speak. There will be an official web site and infomercial going up soon explaining how this entire event will go down in the near future. It’s so motherfuckin’ important to us that I cannot even begin to explain to y'all how and why in this edition of the HH. But we will explain it to you, in full detail, in the months to come. As for now, Juggalos, please do whatever you have to do in order to make sure that you and your crew are all free and able to attend this huge event because this will undoubtedly be the most historic event in Juggalo history by far. Nothing we’ve ever done even comes close to the significance and importance of what we are about to do one year from now. Juggalos are the last, very real, American subulture. They call us a “Movement.” Well the time has come for us to collectively actually make a move! This is not about just albums and tours for so many ninjas out there. Being a Juggalo is a way of life for thousands of us and this event is our way to stand up and say to the rest of the planet who use constantly use Juggalos as a punchline, “Fuck You Back!” But like I said, there is much, much more info to come about this incredible weekend to come in time. For now, let me drop some dope ass news that will surely put a smile across your painted mugs.

Ninjas everywhere have been wondering what’s going on at the 23rd Annual Hallowicked Clown Show taking place at Harpo’s on Halloween Night in Detroit! Well, unfortunately, this year Halloween falls on a stale ass Monday night so we knew that in order to make it worth coming out for, we had to put together something really special to bring the heat, and so that’s exactly what we did… but we’re not just gonna bring some heat, we’re bringing the fuckin’ FIRE! Starting with Blahzay Roze kicking things off, followed by Big Hoodoo killing it in his hometown, then we really turn up the flames with a fresh ass set from Mr. Waffle House himself … JELLY ROLL! Then it’s time to get extra wicked with a set from the very band that ignited the Gathering last year … I’m talking about KISSING CANDACE!!! If you think that’s where it ends, you’re sadly mistaken, bitch boy or girl, because after that comes the man who ninjas still respect and have been asking us to bring back ever since he set the Gathering ablaze two years ago … Atlanta’s own WAKA FLOCKA FLAME!!!!! Yes, it’s true, he finally returns to a Juggalo stage! And of course he will be followed by Shaggy 2 Dope and Violent J dropping a full set of ICP classics including several Halloween favorites! This legendary Halloween event will be hosted by The Rude Boy and Jumpsteady together and in-between the acts, the bumpage will be provided by the one and only DJ Clay!

And, of course, let us not forget the Official Hallowicked Afterparty that night taking place at The Shelter beneath St. Andrew’s Hall featuring an extra special Native World medley, featuring artists from Anybody Killa’s label including the man himself … ABK! Also everybody else from Psychopathic Records will be in the house having a good old time because this will also mark the official and final ending of the massively long Riddlebox 20th Anniversary Tour, making it not only Hallowicked’s after party but also the tour’s home coming party as well! WOW!!!

Now get ready for another dose of wig-splitting news. As ICP announced at their Gathering 17 seminar, Juggalo Day 2017 will take place in Florida and the headlining feature will be Dark Lotus performing the Lotus’ debut album “Tales From The Lotus Pod” in it’s entirety! This amazing jump off will take place at Janis Landing in St. Petersburg, Florida on February 17th and 18th, which is perfect if you’re coming in from anywhere else in the country where chances are it’s probably cold and snowy as fuck, making a trip to Florida in the middle of February extra enticing to say the least. Together Psychopathic Records and Magik Ninja Entertainment are combining forces to make

Juggalo Day 2017 officially become “Juggalo Weekend.” As I write this, the lineup is still being worked out, but what we DO know is that artists from both Psychopathic AND Majik Ninja Entertainment will be delivering a weekend Juggalo entertainment of epic proportions! Tickets will be going on sale very soon—just stay tuned to our social media accounts and website for breaking news!

It’s a great time to be a Juggalo and I’m so thankful that I get to share all this dope news with you, my Juggalo brothers and sisters. I’m a very blessed man and its truly an honor to be a part of this worldwide family.

Well, I gotta get back to work. Keep the faith, fam, and never let ANYONE or ANYTHING make you afraid … because we’ve got each other! WHOOP WHOOP!

Peace Out,

J-Webb

03 Sep2016

Direct from Psychopathic.....it's the Hatchet Herald!

Whaddup fam!

Holy fucking shit! Was the summer of 2016 off the chain or what? We had more than 10,000 ninjas come from all corners of the globe to unite at Gathering 17 and it was unquestionably one of the freshest, most karma-filled Juggalo family unions in our history. Plus, we got to school the world with some devastating new merchandise including Jumpsteady and Louis Simpson’s Psychopathic-themed deckbuilding card game “Into the Echo Side,” which is so phat and fun to play that even NON-JUGGALOS are getting addicted to the game and calling it one of the best deckbuilding card games in years. Violent J released his epic length audiobook edition of Behind The Paint—all completed updated and expanded for 2016—on a fresh looking USB drive and packaged in an old school action figure-style packaging. And the fuse has been lit on next year’s highly anticipated Juggalo March on Washington, DC, which will go down on Saturday, September 16, 2017 at the National Mall. We’re already getting asked about press inquiries from media stations all over the world who know this march -- which is the Juggalo Family’s outcry against the ongoing discrimination many of us face due to the FBI stupidly labeling Juggalos a “gang” in 2011 – will be a truly historic event in not only pop culture but also American history. Now is the time for us to raise our fists and demand justice! IT’S GOING DOWN, BABY!

So we’re ending Summer 2016 on a high note so loud it could shatter the windows in the Lotus Pod. ICP is currently getting ready to embark on round 2 of the almighty Riddle Box tour, hitting all of the major cities that haven’t yet had the opportunity to experience the flavor of seeing the 3rd Joker’s Card performed LIVE in its entirety (visit www.psychopathicrecords.com/tour-dates for dates and tickets). Plus, Jumpsteady and his merry squad of nerdies are working on the Dark Carnival Games convention, the expansion pack of Into the Echo Side, and creating what is certain to become the wickedest party game of all time … JUGGALOS AGAINST HUMANITY!

So this has been a year of triumph and progress for Psychopathic Records and we thank each one of you for your support. For real! We fucking LOVE you ‘Los and ‘Lettes and don’t you forget it.

As Psychopathic looks to the future, we are always making moves to ensure we can continue to provide quality entertainment for the Juggalo family, while at the same time, adapting to the ever-changing landscape of the music industry. It’s so funny how quickly the music world changes—just 10 years ago if you would’ve told us that vinyl would make a tidal wave-sized comeback and that streaming and YouTube would be the way most people receive their music, we’d say you were fuckin’ nuts. In fact, the ENTIRE MUSIC INDUSTRY DIDN’T SEE THIS COMING! Change can be challenging…but we sure as FUCK ain’t scared of it!

So we’re making some organizational adjustments here at the Hatchet to ensure that we can maintain our momentum and grow by offering even MORE dope ass events like Juggalo Day and the Dark Carnival Games Convention and devastating entertainment like Into the Echo Side. And the best way for us to do this is to finally act on what we’ve been talking about at Gathering ICP seminars for years, and that is no longer function as an artist management company.

For over 20 years, Psychopathic has nurtured the careers of rappers who went on to become true underground rap icons in their own right, including Myzery, Boondox, Blaze Ya Dead Home, and probably the best example, our homies Twiztid, who left Psychopathic to form their own successful imprint Majik Ninja Entertainment—and God bless them for all the success they’re achieving on their own. What we’ve discovered by working with so many talented artists over the years is that the best way to help them grow is to assist them in developing their stage persona—be it Boondox’ psychotic scarecrow or Big Hoodoo’s voodoo magician—show them everything that ICP has learned throughout the years and then, once that artist is confident and strong enough to make their own choices, let them spread their wings and fly onward towards their own artistic path. See, we basically act like a mentor to these artists, Juggalos. Now that CDs are no longer relevant to 95 percent of the music buying public and all music is basically free on the internet, after we’ve shown the artist how to post their own music on iTunes, shoot their own videos, book their own tours, there’s nothing much left for us to do. So watching them go start their own labels and do their own thing is fucking awesome and makes us proud as shit! A lot of our Psychopathic Family artists have already been doing this all along. ABK’s schooling it with his own Native World, Inc. roster. Big Hoodoo is a self contained one-man-show, booking all of his own shows, producing and financing all his own albums, and just doing it HIS way. AND THAT’S WHAT ARTISTS SHOULD DO: Control their own destinies.

But wait! Don’t you even THINK that the Hatchet is done discovering and developing dope new artists cuz we AIN’T! NOT BY A FUCKIN LONG WAY! As we speak, our new protégé Blahzay Roze is writing scary ass rhymes for her first full length album and Psychopathic plans on introducing more new acts to the Juggalo world sooner than you think! Because the fact is…WE LOVE THE ARTISTIC SATISFACTION OF DISCOVERING A TALENTED PERFORMER AND HELPING THEM BLOSSOM!

So by altering Psychopathic Records’ focus slightly, and giving our artists the freedom to manage their own careers, it frees up ICP and the rest of the Psychopathic Records staff to expand our entertainment empire by focusing more energy on new products, events, tours, and more! While we’re slightly restructuring the way we do business at Psychopathic in order to keep up with the modern state of the music biz, rest assured you will barely notice anything different – except lots of fresh new projects (Example: J-Webb is currently designing vinyl reissues on many of ICP’s ‘90s catalog, including some dope ass picture discs that you will not fucking believe!), flavor, and tours.

If the first wave of the Riddle Box Tour, our Canadian tour, and the triumph of Gathering 17 proved anything it’s that the Hatchet is swinging harder than ever and has never been more razor sharp. So get ready to have your wigs blown back, ‘Los and ‘Lettes…because you ain’t seen NOTHIN’ yet!

BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND … HATCHET SHOES!!

There isn’t a week that goes by that we don’t hear from a Juggalo either on the phone or via email, “Yo! When y’all gonna start selling shoes again?!” Well, my friends, the answer is … RIGHT FUCKING NOW!! After lots of looking, we have partnered with a dope ass shoe manufacturer and are finally reintroducing shoes to Hatchet Gear. There are three fresh styles to choose from and all major sizes. So tell ya what…why do you just click HEREto go to the new “Shoes” section of Hatchet Gear right now?!

And while you’re there, peep our Hatchet Gear Labor Day sale, which runs through Monday, September 5 at midnight, and enjoy some bomb ass savings on your favorite serial killa clothing line!

Hatchetgear Labor Day Sale!!!

Stop by Hatchetgear and save 35% on most of your favorite merch PLUS all t-shirts are 9.99. Sale runs until Monday.

02 Aug2016

Direct from Violent J.....it's the Hatchet Herald!

In the Words of Prince … CONTROVERSY!

So I guess our newest artist Blahzay Roze is causing a world of controversy. That’s awesome because so far she has sold way, way more CDs than any of us expected! We are very happy and very proud of her. If you ninjas only knew how far she has come in the last 6 months! Damn, sometimes I forget how much the world has changed since we started this label. As I previously explained in my Hatchet Heralds, (If anybody still reads them anymore; you know, the postings I sometimes write and post up on HatchetHerald.com and insaneclownposse.com?) When Psychopathic Records signs a new artist, we usually like to sign an unknown, unheard of rapper and then together with them in the studio, we like to create something cool. Yes, we manufacture a fresh character, a look or a gimmick if you will. We do this by finding out what the artist's strongest talents are and magnifying who they actually are as a person. We find out who they are inside and what this person is really all about and we then turn the volume of all of that way up to 10! We make a character out of who they actually are. It's been the same with every artist we've ever signed that wears some form of face paint. Now… only time will tell if that artist is skilled and talented enough to, by themselves, take what we started together with them and build and expand on it themselves, turning it all into something amazing the way Twiztid did, or Blaze or Anybody Killa, ect.

We have done the same with almost all the artists we've signed over the years, except for the artist that we've signed who already had a fan base and previous albums out, and videos, etc, such as Esham, Dayton Family, and even Vanilla Ice (only Vanilla Ice never actually handed in an album so nothing of his ever came out on Psychopathic). The point is, we are a lot like the WWE. Signing and working with Blahzay Roze has been no different. The only thing different now is the times! It's 2016! You see, in today's world, you have the internet and on the internet everybody has a voice and everybody's voice is equally as loud and effective. Everybody from 40 year old Juggalos who know everything there is to know about the Hatchet all the way down to 11 year old kids, just talking shit, who don't know a fucking thing about the Hatchet. On the net, all voices are equally as loud and powerful. They all get heard and all their shit gets spread out further and further even if it's complete bullshit. So I'm coming on the net myself, right now to tell the exact truth about how our new artist, Blahzay Roze, was discovered and how she landed her deal with Psychopathic Records so everybody can quit spreading bullshit rumors and speculation. Once I tell the exact truth, as I'm about to do, whoever wants to hate on her and us can hate to the fullest all they like and those who want to support her and us can support us. At least the TRUTH will be out. Now if anybody that’s reading this doesn't believe me and thinks I'm lying or exaggerating about anything I'm about to tell you, you, my friends, can suck a dick up until you hiccup. Because I'd never lie about this shit; it would only come back to bite me in the ass and I would look like a fuckin' fool. Plus, I myself think the truth of how we discovered Blahzay Roze is actually kind of cool, and so there really is no need to lie or hype anything up because we don't have anything to hide. I think it's all fascinating!

About 6 months ago, I joined Facebook. Young Wicked set it all up for me because I still don't know much about how to work all that shit. It's very embarrassing to admit that because the net is nothing new anymore and yet I still don't know how to really work it and I find that rather pathetic about myself. My own mom knows more about the net than me and my kids do too. I only joined Facebook because at the time I was looking for girls to meet because I'd recently become single. As soon as I joined Facebook I got bombarded with letters from Juggalos. I read probably hundreds of letters from all kinds of ninjas. One letter I got was very polite and thanked us and our music for several things, the main thing being that it helps her battle with depression. I myself have dealt with depression and anxiety disorder for most of my adult life so that meant a lot to me to hear her say that. I wrote this person back just like I had written many people back. Her name was Becky. I looked at her pictures and she was very beautiful to me. I called Otis over because he was with me that day and I was using the big screen computer in the Lotus Pod studio. He looked at her picture and name and he said “Hey, man, I've met that chick before! She busted a fresh rap for me in Worcester. She can rap, man!" I wrote her back but I wasn't really concerned with the rapping thing at all. I was more or less flattered by her letter and what she was thanking us for. She wrote me back again and we began a correspondence.

I quit Facebook but Becky and I kept talking and texting by phone for about 4 weeks straight and we talked A LOT. I checked out all her pictures and she was a hottie, no doubt about it. She told me about how she hasn't been on a date in over a year and how her depression had basically been crippling her lately. She would go out on the weekends to the same bar in her town to drink with her Juggalo homies and get wasted, but that would be the highlight of her week. Every week. Same thing, week after week after week. This went on for like the last year. I won’t go into to much of her personal life, as that is hers to share if she wishes. All I will say is that I offered to fly her out to Detroit several times to spend a couple days with me and she repeatedly refused. She turned me down over and over again. She was not having my game. Her exact words were something like "I think I'm going to just stay dark for a while.” I remember saying "Dark? What the fuck does that mean? Who wants to stay in the dark"? I remember feeling extra positive because the “Marvelous Missing Link: Found” album was still relatively new and that had me feeling extra good (It still has me feeling good!). So one weekend, about 5 weeks into our internet relationship, I told her I was flying out to see her that night in Maine and that there was nothing she could do about it. And that's exactly what I did. I flew out to this little town I had never heard of called Lewiston, Maine. Even the nearest airport was over an hour away. I tried to rent a car but something was wrong with my credit card so I called Billy and he set me up with a car service to drive me around for the night. I remember thinking "Good because I plan on getting fucked up tonight and now I don't gotta drive!" The guy drove me all the way to Lewiston, which I guess is right next to another little city named Auburn. So this place is actually referred to as "Lewiston/Auburn" I guess. This town wasn't nearly as small as I expected. It reminded me a lot of the Cass Corridor section of Detroit where Shaggy and I lived with Billy and Rob during the Ringmaster/Riddlebox eras. Just a big, old looking, run down dump of a city. So we pulled into a hotel, I checked in and I texted Becky right away. Her friend texted me back and said something like "She's really nervous and she won’t be ready for a couple hours still". I remember clearly thinking "What the fuck, man? Now she's gonna leave me fuckin' hangin'? After I came all this fuckin way? Is this bitch crazy or something?" So I just chilled in my room, watched “Cops” and waited it out.

The thing is, I really liked Becky's personality. She wasn't like anybody I'd ever met before. Obviously I did or I wouldn't have flown all the way out there just to take her out on a fuckin' date. The thing about her was she was depressed a lot, yes, and her life to me was just fuckin' crazy. Her life seemed to me like it's probably exactly what my life would be like if I wasn't rapping for a living. Seriously. She'd been a Juggalo for the last 10 years. She's been to like 4 or 5 Gatherings. She said she was totally lost when she was younger and everybody called her Bulimic Becky (because she was so skinny then). But then she met some girl, who's now her best friend. And that girl introduced her to her crew of Juggalo homies. From then on her life became much better in a lot of ways yes, but in other ways, like money, jobs, relationships, family, etc. her life still pretty much fuckin' sucked. I wish I could tell you about it all but I can't. It's her business. Just take my word on this because I would never flat out lie to you about this: She was raised very fuckin' hard knocks. VERY. She has been through some very, very serious trauma in her life. When I met her she lived in a fourth floor, two bedroom, shitty ass, old apartment that actually leaned to the side. The entire building was fuckin' crooked. You could set a baseball down in front of her front door and it would actually roll right off the fuckin' deck. I've been there and I've seen this all myself. Walking up and down them steps everyday, 3 times a day to let the dog out had to fuckin' suck. She lived with another ninja out of convenience. They had a huge blanket thing hung up for a wall to separate the apartment basically in half. They played video games and smoked weed together, but that's it. There is more to tell about them two but again, that is her business. As I said she suffered from depression and anxiety badly and couldn't afford to see a doctor about it. She had no insurance for her much needed meds and you know the rest. I'm talking HARD LIVING Y’ALL. But she was a Juggalo and she was sometimes very funny, charismatic and fun if you could get her mind out of the dark. She told me she loved to paint, she wrote poetry, she never mentioned the rapping thing and to be completely honest, neither did I. I had completely forgotten all about it. But trying to get her out from under this dark cloud became sort of my obsession. I have often been told many, many times in my life that I have a big heart. Or that I think with my heart and not my brain. Now this has been both a blessing in my life and a curse. But helping this girl became sort of a priority for me. She was so beautiful, why was she living in the dark? Her only enjoyment was her Juggalo life and hanging with her Juggalo friends. She was an artist that never finished any projects. She had a whole fuckin' novel that was half way written. HALF WAY!! Why couldn't she just finish it? She said she met this ninja who wanted to be a photographer and she took some pictures for modeling with him because people often told her she looked pretty but nothing much was happening with that shit either. She wanted to take pics similar to the Suicide Girls. She was trying with that at least. The greatest joy in her life was the Gatherings. She would go to them with her friends and just totally let loose and have a ball there.

So, anyway, back to me sittin’ in this Lewiston/Auburn hotel, waiting on this Becky girl who I'd been talking religiously with for the past 5 weeks on the phone and texting. I texted her again 2 hours later and to my surprise she said she was ready! Boom! I jumped in my chauffeur driven town car and we went and picked her up and out we went. She was crazy hot in person but mad nervous. We went to lame ass Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner but we had a blast. We both ordered a drink after we ate to help kill the nerves but we were definitely hitting it off. We had fuckin' fun just talkin'. I remember she took the rest of our food home in a bag and I remember thinking "Man she must really be hungry if she's gonna carry this bag of food around with her for the rest of the night", and that's exactly what she did. No lie. She had that bag with her at all times like it was full of money or something. I'm not kidding. She couldn't stand the thought of wasting that food and just throwing it away. I'll never forget that.

We hit it off just like we did on Facebook. Then we went to the same bar that she goes to every weekend and I met a lot of her Juggalo friends and that was definitely cool. Her homie was there, this guy about my age. We were sittin' there talkin’ and chillin’ and he asked me if I ever heard Becky rap? That reminded me right then and there about what Otis (Young Wicked) said! She can rap! So I jumped all over it. I was like "Please bust a rap for me, please! I gotta hear you rap, please!" We went out on to the bar's patio and her homie lit up a blunt. And Becky busted her raps with ease. She busted 3 different long verses. I was straight up and down fuckin' floored. No lie. I was flat out amazed. Not because she spit faster than Tech or had doper lyrics than Hopsin or anything like that. I'm not claiming any of that. What floored me were 3 specific things. Number One: She spit what I consider to be classic Detroit style Wicked Shit! Straight up and down Juggalo style, crazy, horror shit. Every female rapper I've ever known or heard of does something else, besides Razakel. Major props to Raz; I think she's awesome and she definitely does the Wicked Shit but she's already well known. She has several dope ass videos out and has already been touring for a while and all that. But all other female rappers have different styles. Besides Razakel, no other female rapper I've ever met does straight up wicked shit. The second thing that fuckin' floored me about Becky's rapping was that she has a rasp in her voice that I instantly thought was awesome. It's almost a gruffy kind of flow that I was instantly a fan of. It was easy to tell that she was heavily influenced by ICP, Twiztid and the rest, but is that a bad thing? I don't think so at all. The third reason I was floored is that I realized right then and there that she doesn't have anything out! Nobody knows a thing about who this person is as far as a rapper! Sure she's a Juggalo, well known by other Juggalos, and she's been to Gatherings actin' crazy and having a blast with everybody else, but what I realized right then and there was all the possibilities! As I mentioned at the ICP seminar, Psychopathic Records has been actively looking to sign a female MC since waaaay back in the day! Long time Juggalos probably remember we even tried with a girl named Tali Demon many years ago, but she at the time had a bad drinking problem and we never actually even got a song recorded. We even tried to sign Whitney Peyton when she first came out but she turned us down. I've wanted to sign a female to Psychopathic for so long that I even talked to Razakel about it even though she's already an underground star! I have wanted to work with an undiscovered female rapper doing some form of the wicked shit FOREVER! FOOORRRREEVVEEERRR!

We stayed at the bar having a blast until it closed. I couldn't stop talking about her rapping. Then we went back to my hotel. We laid there on the bed and talked about all the possibilities until the sun was fully up and shining. I asked her all of what she has done in the rap world. Her ex was a rapper so she would write raps from time to time with him and his homies just to prove that she could do it to and she even recorded a verse on one of there songs. That song is some where out there on the net. It will probably surface any second if it hasn't already. She's on the 3rd verse just straight up killin' it! She called herself "Tippy" when she rapped. In my opinion, she totally bested the other two guys on that song. Also her ex made a cheap ass video for one of his songs and she's sitting there on the rocks in the background looking hot for him but she don't rap in it or anything. But I knew this girl fuckin' had it! I knew it the second she rapped for me. And she wasn't doing a fuckin' thing with her life at the time but wallowing in depression. So I flat out began talking to her about signing with Psychopathic that very night. I said "Fuck this place. If your life here sucks so bad then come back to Detroit with me and let’s make an album!” I asked her if she thought she could perform live and all that. She was just (I think) overwhelmed by everything I was saying. But I explained how everything would work down to a T. It was the same talk I had with Boondox when I first met him. Everybody starts somewhere! I told her how we would put her up at a hotel near the office and pick her up every morning to record and drop her off with another beat for her to write to that night for the next song. I explained what everything would be like to the very best I could and she just kind of took it all in. I flew home the next day (with no sex for all you millions of ninjas wondering. No, I did not get laid that night, or even kissed or anything like that, unfortunately). I called a meeting with all of Psychopathic and I told everybody that I had finally found our unheard of, ultra talented female rapper and she also just so happens to be sexy as hell. I explained everything about how I was talking to her and how I liked her and how she liked me and right away everybody was like "OHHH SHIT". They all predicted way back then, exactly what is happening now would happen. They all said that everybody will say that she only got her deal because she's fucking me, and they said people will say she don't deserve it, and this, that and everything else. But we all knew that Juggalos are always wary of our new artists at first. And so I cut them a deal. I said I would make a two song demo with her, and we would come up with a look and a style of who she would be and if it's not fresh enough, then we will pass on everything and send her back to Maine. But when we're done with the demo if everybody -- and I mean every one of us has to agree -- if everybody agrees that she's got what it takes, and she is dope enough to actually do this, then we will finish the EP and put it out on Psychopathic Records.

People out there in internet land assume a lot of really stupid shit. First off, for whatever reason people assume Joey and I walk around running the business side of shit here at Psychopathic. Let me give you my favorite example of the kind of shit I'm talking about. This girl recently told me how she was mad at me and Joey because one of her friends was taking Hatchet Gear merch and cutting and redesigning it and reselling it on line. She was all mad at ICP because 3 years ago her friend got a cease and desist letter from Psychopathic Records. Now the crazy part is that they actually thought Joey and I sent her that letter. That is so fuckin' funny to me. As if we saw that shit for sale on line somewhere and we were like "Hey! Put a stop to that person selling that re designed shit!" I mean, come on, man! Do people really think we have anything to do with stuff like that? That is so crazy to me! First off, we've said it a million fuckin' times … we're barely ever online! Secondly if we are online, why the fuck would we ever care about something like that? We have partners! PARTNERS! People who are paid to watch our backs business wise. People who we pay to make sure all of our business is being handled as best as possible. It's not us sending out letters like that and besides, I seriously don't believe anybody, especially OUR PEOPLE would ever give a shit about something cool like that! So I don't know who sent that girl that letter but it sure as fuck wasn't us! Maybe it's possible an old employee of ours with nothing better to do sent it, but I seriously even doubt that.

But if people out there actually think, my brother Rob, Billy, Dean or J-Webb or even Joey would ever in a million fuckin' years allow me to sign somebody to our fuckin' precious company, which is our life line, just because I'm dating her is fuckin’ ludicrous!!! That is so fuckin’ crazy! I usually try to hide it when something out there on line actually offends me, otherwise more people will see that it worked and then they will start doing it to offend me too! People will do or say anything to get a reaction from you. I thought people saying that wouldn't bother me because it's so fuckin’ ridiculous, but the truth is it's appalling and it's incredibly offensive what they are saying about me and Blahzay Roze. We knew this was coming and even though we expected this, it's still just incredible the way people think. "Blahzay Roze got her deal because she sucked Violent J's dick". That's the best shit I ever read. I love that. Let’s think about that for a quick second… “If you’re hot, all you have to do is suck my dick to get signed. You could suck on the mic, but as long as you suck on this dick too, we're all good." Yup, that's how we operate around here. I'm so hard up for some head that I'll sign any female MC that will suck my dick. And all my business partners who are all raising their families off this company that we've all built together are all totally OK with that as well. We'll give her a fat ass advance, and we will give her four months of our best work producing the best music we possibly can for her, all in return for a simple blow job. Plus we will shoot her a few expensive videos and plan out a career for her that if worked properly, could last forever. All she's gotta do is blow me. HAHAHAHA! That's fuckin' priceless right there. It amazes me that after 27 years in this business, and after launching all these amazing artists, people out there actually think that’s all we've boiled down to. People are saying that but I know they don't actually believe that. The truth is, everybody knows that's not true. They are only saying shit like that to be hurtful and because she's a girl and that’s beyond fuckin’ stale. Plus they are player hating her to the fullest with that stupid bullshit.

After the meeting at Psychopathic everybody was excited to see what we could come up with and I called her and told her the good news. First things first, we wanted this whole thing to be top secret. Her whole Juggalo crew had to remain quiet and to their credit, they did! Becky thought about everything for about a day and decided to come to Detroit and give it a shot, and why the fuck not? Who wouldn't do the same? She was stuck in a dark room smoking weed and playing video games and basically doing nothing with her life for the past year! When she arrived in Detroit the first thing we did was get her to my doctor and after a while they put her on the anti depressants she very much needed. That helped her tremendously. I could slowly see her becoming more and more sociable and happy. We went out a lot and had fun hanging out with Rudy and his crew down in Southwest Detroit. And yes, during this process Becky and I did indeed hook up and began dating. Yes it's true. We dated for a while. I brought her along with me on the Riddlebox Tour to be the Cemetery Girl to help give her some stage and tour life experience. She also came to Canada where she played the Zombie Maid on stage for even more experience. She got a tattoo of my name above a butterfly that she had tatted on her hip. I asked her what if we don't work out as a couple? She explained to me that she got the tattoo not because we're in love but because I was the one who helped her come out of the dark. She told me I was the first person she ever met who truly believed in her and she will respect me for that alone forever. We also talked A LOT about what will happen if we stop dating and right from the rip she made it very clear that she is in this for the long haul no matter what happens with us and she is a Psychopathic Ryda to the fullest no matter what. And you know what? The sad news is that we didn't last as a couple. We actually broke up right before the Canada trip but we stayed together until the release of her EP at the Gathering all the same. We're great friends and we absolutely are going to continue to work together. In fact we start back up in the studio this week. We have a great idea for a future project called “The Prostitute” that we both think will be incredible.

The bottom line is simply this… say whatever you want to say about Blahzay Roze. We stand behind her no matter what and we will as long as she's with Psychopathic Records. People have called her music uncomfortable to listen to, and I find that kind of awesome. That's real horror rap. That’s how I used to feel when listening to Esham way back in the day. It scared me to death! It's that heavy. I can tell you that as her personal life picks up and becomes brighter, her music and writing most likely will pick up as well and probably won’t all be so grim and dark. Oh and I almost forgot… another thing people like to say about her raps is that I wrote them for her. HA! That’s another funny one! The fuckin' truth is… I didn't write shit! If her stuff sounds similar to ICP's to you, that’s probably because she was so heavily influenced by our shit. I myself like to think that the Juggalos out there who REALLY know my writing can tell that I DID NOT write her lyrics AT ALL. She wrote every song and I think she did a fuckin' fantastic job. I think "Raped at 15" is an incredibly visual song and "White Lights" is epic as well. Young Wicked and myself did help her come up with song subjects and titles. And we helped with some of the choruses as well but she definitely wrote every rhyme on that EP.

So yes, we did produce her debut EP (along with Young Wicked's help) just like we have for the first release of almost all of our artists over all the years. We are very proud of what we've created. If people are still confused about who or what she is all about, I'm confident the music to come will finish painting the portrait. We're also encouraging her to finish her paintings and most of all her novel! It's really, really good shit and it will be coming out on Psychopathic Books. There is much, much, much talent inside that girl and I'm telling you that right now. We are very proud to have her on the Psychopathic Records roster. If you’re just not a fan, well, hey, you cant make everybody happy all the time. It's just impossible. But so far, so good. The EP is actually doing fuckin' fantastic.

Also whoever the fuck that asshole was pretending to be Blahzay Roze on Twitter contacting all those rappers asking for collabos, was just some snake trying to hustle money through PayPal. This again proves my point. As if any artist under our management would actually be so stupid to do something like that. Come on, man! Who actually believes this crap? I just don't get it. People are so quick to try and hurt her just because they are jealous. Just look at this message one of her friends received on Facebook! This guy is actually offering money for any hurtful information just to try and bring her down. It's insane to me.

There are 100s of these weak, pathetic assholes out there who are so feeble in the real world that they hide in internet land and try to be hurtful. Just like this idiot who's actually offering Becky's friends money for any hurtful, embarrassing information! What the fuck? Why? How sad and pathetic can a person be to want to spend his own money on something so evil!? Yes, Becky got lucky and received a huge break in her life and is now flying high. It saddens me to know that people who don't even know her at all just want to shoot her down. Kill her shine. They're not happy for their fellow Juggalo. They want to see her crash and burn out of pure jealousy. Why though? Because she was in the wet T-shirt contest at the Gathering? Who gives a shit! Since when does something like that make you a bad person in the eyes of a Juggalo? Male Juggalos tie their own dicks in a knot and receive mad props for it at the Gathering. Juggalettes walk around stark naked everywhere at the Gathering. Everybody is totally free to be themselves. Since when did we start judging people for shit like that? I thought the whole idea of being a Juggalo meant that everybody is accepted and nobody is rejected. It's just sad that people can be so hateful without even knowing her at all. That sucks, man.

There is something about her Juggalo crew that I think is very cool. They consider the word Juggalo to mean everybody -- male and female -- and I defiantly agree. I'm not against the term Juggalette by any means and neither is Blahzay, but I do consider the word Juggalo to mean everybody.

To learn more about Blahzay Roze check out her new website. It's pretty dope. She has her video for “Broken” posted there and much more content still to come, including a fascinating interview and some of her poetry. Some pictures are on there also. Check it out if you want at www.BlahzayRoze.com

Thanks for reading y'all MMFCLY!

Violent J The Duke, Baby! 4EVA!

Last but never least, for all the ninjas out there supporting us, Blahzay Roze and all of our artists… The holy creator knows that we love you, we appreciate you, your support and your time and us saying "thank you" just ain't a big enough way to express our gratitude. Just please know that we will always give our absolute best efforts possible to try to always continue to entertain you and bring you that fuckin’ Dark Carnival thunder! We very much, for real LOVE y’all.

05 Jul2016

Direct from Violent J.....it's the Hatchet Herald!

This Hatchet Herald is very, very special. Not because I’m dropping any huge news, because, truthfully, I’m not. Not in this issue. There is easily enough huge news going on as it is right now… Gathering 17!!! Wizard Of The Hood Live! The new game Into The Echo Side! The new artist! The audiobook! The fuckin’ history making announcements being made at Gathering 17!!! Big Hoodoo’s new album “Asylum” dropping at the Gathering! And us, Insane Clown Posse, finally making it to CANADA after 16 years! There is sooooo fuckin’ much huge news currently popping off that for this Hatchet Herald I just decided that I would just sit here and fuckin… babble. Miscellaneously at that. I decided that this time, I’m just going to talk about random flavor. Whatever is currently popping off in my head I’m going to talk about starting now! We are in Canada!!! Making and spending their ultra fresh looking rainbow colored money. Canada’s money is fuckin’ straight up awesome looking. It even has clear plastic windows that you can see through printed right on the bills. I’m writing this while we’re parked outside of the venue in Toronto. Sitting in the bus listening to a “Best of Run DMC” CD because I’m an old ass ninja who still plays CDs. Whut. Coming across the border was pretty intense, I’ll tell you that. We lost a few of our guys. Three ninjas couldn't make it across for various reasons and were sent back. We lost two crew members and one stage clown! That sucks! But the bulk of us made it across! It’s fuckin’ hard to believe. Our first day in Canada, our very first show was crazy fresh. It was at a festival, and that is very unusual for us. We have played a few, and this one was one of the bigger ones. We found out just the night before that we go on at 1pm. So we’re thinking, “Who the fuck is gonna be watching us at 1pm? I don't think we have ever went on at 1pm ever anywhere. Plus, playing during the daylight takes a lot away from our show. No fresh strobe lights, no red scary lights, no darkness between songs, no spotlights. Plus, this festival stage was fuckin’ huge. You could land a B-52 on that bitch. You could have held the Super Bowl on that bitch. You could have built a fuckin’ golf course on that fuckin’ stage. So for our clowns, they practically had to leave from backstage 15 seconds early just to make it to the front of stage in time. Even with these small bones, much to our surprise this experience was incredible. It wasn't like festivals usually are for us at all! Usually you got a fresh ass, fat ass posse of about 500 to 1000 Juggalos acting crazy as fuck right up front. The rest of the 25,000 people or so are all just kind of standing there watching us lookin’ pissed off. That’s always mad fun anyway, but this Canadian Festival called “Rock Fest” was much different. (No offense to the promoters of “Rock Fest” but “Rock Fest” is the lamest, most uncreative name for a festival I’ve ever heard. Here, I’ll think of something in 10 seconds better than that… “Rock Forever Fest”. There. That might not be that fresh, but it’s better than just “Rock Fest.” Here… “Raw Rock Fest” I did it again. Or How about this… “Fat Fun Rock Fest”.)

Anyway, this festival was fuckin’ different and awesome because even though we went on at 1pm there were easily 15,000 people or more watching and they were fuckin’ ALL ROCKIN WITH US. Listen, I’m not saying they were rocking, like Juggalos rock, but they were definitely fuckin’ having fun and enjoying the show. There was a lot of for real ass Juggalos singing along and getting live as fuck as usual right up front, and as usual, they were the craziest, but unlike in America, where the rest of the big ass festival crowds just stand there during our set, these people were actually showin' mad love. If we yelled out “Throw your hands in the air” they allllll did it. It was fuckin’ fun and it was an unexpected fresh experience that I’ll cherish probably forever. Playing that shit was nice. It felt good. Some real unexpected love all early in the day. Fuckin’ dope. All kinds of fresh ass big ass bands were playing this festival so that evening we went and checked some of them out. It was really weird. The bands were all parked together in this huge backstage area. To get to the actual festival we had to take a golf cart to this little deck by the water. Then this boat comes and picks us up and takes us across the water to what I guess would be considered the main land. Korn was getting ready to hit the stage just as we were heading back. So we’re waiting at the deck for the boat to pick us up and take us back and it shows up full of rock ninjas getting ready to do their thang. So as they’re all coming off the boat I see this ninja who looks just like Dave Navarro (a rock star who's played in a lot of big bands, plus he hosts a tattoo show on TV). Anyway, so we’re all standing to the side so they can walk past and this Dave Navarro-looking ninja kind of trips and falls right into me. I’m talking he straight up, pretty much football sacked me right in my gut. Then he just stands back up and continues walking by. I got heated quick. I fuckin’ followed behind him and tapped him on the shoulder hard style and he spun around. I got a good look at him and I’m like 95 percent it was Dave fuckin’ Navarro, if it wasn’t, then this guy’s gotta be his twin brother. But I was pissed and I didn't give a shit who he was. I said “That’s it? No ‘I’m sorry?’ No ‘My bad’? No nothin’? You just slammed right into me and didn’t say a fuckin’ thing!” He said “Ok dude, wow, I’m sorry. Is that better?” Just then, Andre The Giant’s big brother tapped me on the shoulder mad hard and asked “Do we have a problem here?” I’m guessing this huge ninja must be his security guard or something. I just said “No, I’m good. He said he’s sorry. He needs to be sorry, he fuckin’ plowed right into me and didn't say a thing!” Anyway, what an awesome first day and first show in Canada. We’ve been having a serious blast. It’s different. A lot of the crowd in the back are curious spectators, I believe. People who came to witness the phenomenon for themselves. The ninjas all packed up front are as Juggalo as a Juggalo can be. The only thing that sucks is not having our full crew here. Also it’s hard to be on the road while trying to rehearse for Wizard Of The Hood and Dark Lotus, and Killjoy Club and our big ICP set. That’s a lot of music to memorize and spit live at Gathering 17! Fuck man, scroll your eyeballs across these words and let the following information sink deeply into your brain: We have an announcement that we’re going to make at Gathering 17 during the ICP seminar that to us at Psychopathic Records is so big that it’s damn near earth shattering. I’m talking historical shit. I want to talk about some “Old School” shit in a minute, but first let me just say this. We are well aware that a lot of Juggalos out there don't really follow our new shit. They only love the old shit and you know what? That’s perfectly OK with us, I promise you. We are not butt hurt if you’re a Juggalo who only likes the old school shit. Really the only thing that sucks about it is we feel like you’re missing out! We really do! Because there is so much super cool shit going on, coming out and coming up in the Juggalo world right now that it’s just a very shiny, shiny time, my friends. Psychopathic Records is fully alive and active as fuck and if you’re only playin’ the old school music, I just can’t help but feel sorry for you because I know the shit we are putting out now and the things we are doing these days are hellafied DOPE, too. Our new music sounds different because it’s been so many years, but it’s made with the same heart and passion as it’s always been and a lot of it is straight up really good. WE ARE IN OUR PRIME AGAIN SOMEHOW. A DIFFERNT PRIME, A NEW PRIME. A SECOND PRIME I GUESS. BUT WE’RE KILLIN’ IT AS HARD AS WE EVER HAVE. THAT’S WHAT IM TRYING TO TELL YOU.

Everybody is wondering about our new artist. You should be. Because almost every rap act discovered and developed by Psychopathic Records became an underground Juggalo rap legend. On the internet they are all speculating about who it is. Is it another old rapper that J and Shaggy loved growing up? Is it this guy or that guy? But as I explained in the last Hatchet Herald I wrote, you have never heard of our new artist. So there is no point in speculating. Psychopathic Records works best when we discover somebody with raw, undeniable, immense talent, who doesn’t already have music out or videos and shit on the internet. Today in 2016, that is not easy to do. But when we do find something perfect, it’s like that artist was dropped off to us straight from the wagons of the Dark Carnival, because then we can create freshness from the bottom up. We love working with that unknown, brand new artist and figuring out ways to showcase their strengths and bring the best out of them. And our new artist is STRONG. Our new artist says things I’ve never ever heard anybody say in all of music -- period. I’m crazy serious. Look, ninjas… Psychopathic Records is a machine that puts out fuckin’ dope ass artists and it has been doing this for years. We don't put out hundreds of artists because the few we put out are special. Sure, in the past we've signed acts like The Dayton Family, Cold 187em, Esham, but those acts were already established when we signed them. They were already successful on their own. We didn't develop them here. We just put them out as they already were because we all thought they were dope and we thought Juggalos would dig them too. But what we are BEST AT, is finding ninjas you never ever heard of in your life and turning them into Juggalo icons. Just look at the ninjas that before Psychopathic were virtually unknown, and are now some of your all-time Juggalo favorites -- Anybody Killa, Blaze Ya Dead Homie, Young Wicked, Axe Murder Boyz, Twiztid, Big Hoodoo, Boondox, Dark Lotus, The Psychopathic Rydas, Project Born, Zug Izland, Myzery. They all come from the Psychopathic Family Tree. So trust me when I tell you today: Now, in 2016, we have something fresh for you Juggalos yet again! An Authentic Psychopathic Records Artist. Our legacy continues to grow. The Juggalo legacy continues to grow. The 7 song EP from this new artist drops at Gathering 17 and on Hatchet Gear the following week along with the debut video. When it comes out you can just rip the EP off the net if you want but just realize these two things… Number one, this is our new artist’s brand new, debut shit. This CD will most likely grow to become infamous one day. Picture years from now -- this CD will be that super dope, original shit! That early debut shit that set it all off for this artist. If you’re a Psychopathic Records CD collector, than this CD will eventually become very important to your collection. Don't you want to be able to say you got that shit when it first dropped? Plus, you know one day this EP will probably be mad hard to find.

Number two, even though it’s not a full length album, the packaging is still fresh as hell with mad photos and foldout freshness. It just looks super fuckin’ dope to the eye. So for you CD collectors out there like me, who actually like to hold that fuckin’ music in your hand, this one is a good one. I promise you that. Our new artist is going to take you on adventures that hopefully you’ll never have to go on in real life.

Wow, man, we’re in Canada. I can’t believe it. I just tend to think that everything fresh will eventually happen one day. It’s The Secret. The Laws of Attraction. If you sit and wish for something, and vision that something happening over and over again in your mind, then it will become a reality. I truly believe that. That’s what I’m doing -- sitting in a tour bus, chilling in Canada, writing a letter to thousands and thousands of Juggalos who dig our shit and actually give a fuck what we have to say. Dreams come true, man. I’m telling you right now, especially if you’re willing to put the work in to guarantee it happens. Fuck waiting around to get signed; work hard, save up and put that shit out yourself. Start your own company. Start walking up that mountain. THAT’S how you make it, youngster. A lot has changed in my life in the last six months. While doing The Riddlebox 20th Anniversary Tour, a lot of shit hit me. First and foremost, man, ICP is old school. We’ve been around a long ass time. We’re stupid, crazy, insanely blessed and fortunate, but we’re old school. We are out here celebrating “The Riddlebox” album and that album came out over 20 fuckin’ years ago! And we had already been putting out albums for five years when “Riddlebox” came out. But I really, really realized something fresh as hell about being old school. Number one, when you’re new, it’s crazy fresh and all, super exiting, but I can tell you right now, you only get to be new for so long. Then comes stage two: Staying current. That’s when you gotta stay up with all the new shit dropping and fight from falling into stage three for as long as you possibly can. Stage three is being Old School. I remember fearing being old school. I remember the very first time I’d ever heard ICP referred to as old school. I went camping with my girlfriend during the Jeckel Brothers era. And I was way up north in Michigan. Like at the top of the murder mitten. There was this short, fat kid standing outside of the store like he was waiting for a ride or something and I came outta the store and asked him if he lived around this area and he said yeah. Then I asked what kind of rap they listened to around here. He named some shit off, then I asked “What about ICP?” And he said “Them? Yeah they were cool back in the day, they’re old school now.” It blew my mind. And since that very day it’s been more and more common to hear something like that about us. But today in 2016, it’s definitely official. ICP really ARE old school, but while I thought it would suck being old school, it’s actually mad, fuckin’ awesome and I’m not kidding at all, ninjas. Here’s why… first off, there are no more stages to go through. Once you’re old school, you’re fuckin’ old school from then on. There’s no young old school or old old school … it’s just old school. We’re only in our fuckin’ early 40’s! You might be thinking, “Fuck, that’s old” but standing in our shoes, we realize we feel just like we did 20 years ago. And we plan on doing this shit until death. We got a lot more in store, that’s for damn sure. I feel like we’re in our prime. Joey had his long needed surgery and it was a total fuckin’ success. He feels fuckin’ great. He moves like one of those blow up air guys by the used car lots. I lost all the weight I wanted to and now I feel fuckin’ great and in shape. Plus, man, I keep saying it: Psychopathic has got so much awesomeness planned out for the future that there is going to be a lot more to this story. A LOT FUCKIN MORE. But being old school is fuckin’ fun. No pressure. We can navigate our career any way we please. Doing the Riddlebox tour was fuckin’ amazing and we still have a whole other leg of it still to do in the US! We fuckin’ love it! The Riddle Box 20th anniversary version CD is all dope with that bonus CD, that fresh, tell-all booklet and the box it all comes in. It’s all remastered and sounds fuckin’ incredible. Shit, man, as the years go on, we can do that for all the Joker’s Cards if we want, man. Each with their own tours and everything. It’s just fuckin’ cool and fun to give the ninjas exactly what they want. I love being old school. We embrace that shit because we love the old shit too! Doing those tours and special one-off shows are fuckin’ crazy fun, man. We can do this shit for ever and be creative as fuck with it as we go. But best believe we’re going to keep moving forward with the tale of the mighty Dark Carnival as well. We’re going to keep dropping those Joker’s Cards and try to shake the world up each and every time. I think we’re just very, very happy and proud and blessed. “The Marvelous Missing Link: Found” album, I recommend to everybody. Just making that album has done wonderful things for me and my brother Shaggy and our whole fuckin’ team. You might wanna check it out. It’s got us all feeling very satisfied and pleased with our lives and careers. I love my kids so much. That’s the 55 percent of my life Juggalos don't know anything about! Hahahahaha! Well, there it is … miscellaneous babble from the mind of Violent J!Gathering 17 … The Gathering of Gatherings!

We will all meet there and do the damn thang as hard as we can!

MMFCL,

Violent J

02 Jul2016

Direct from Psychopathic.....it's the Hatchet Herald!

Whaddup, ‘Los and ‘Lettes? This is your pal J-Webb coming atcha with the Hatchet Herald—all the wicked news that’s fit to print…and a lot that’s unfit but who gives a fuck?

First and foremost … HAPPY 4th of JULY WEEKEND! To celebrate the day America officially told the British to go fuck themselves, we’re holding a big ass sale at Hatchet Gear, starting tonight at midnight (July 2) and running through midnight on July 4! All single disc CDs will be on sale for $6.99 and all apparel will be 20% off! So be sure and hit that up over the holiday weekend when you’re done shooting off fireworks.

Now let’s jump into the Faygo-splattered world of my friends and yours…the Insane Clown Posse. So right now, our favorite wicked clowns are currently tearing up Canada for the first time in something like 13 years! It’s been both crazy and awesome at the same time. Canadian Juggalos are a force to be reckoned with—they get live as fuck and know how to throw a Juggalo party. For real! Besides the incredibly warm welcome from our Canadian fam, the Canadian music press has been practically stepping on each other to get interviews with ICP (as ICP’s press dobot, believe me when I say I’m only slightly exaggerating here).

ICP was also interviewed by the SiruisXM show The Eric Alper Show on the Canada Talks station. That will air tomorrow on SiriusXM but we already have the hookup for you ninjas who don’t have SiriusXM. A link to the interview will post tomorrow July 2 at www.insaneclownposse.com probably around noon.

In other media related news, ICP and the Juggalo family in particular are the subject of a bomb ass new book by the writer ninja Steve Miller called “Juggalo: Insane Clown Posse And the World They Created.” This book is the VERY FIRST book ever written that takes a serious and fair look at Juggalos and our unique place in history. Steve, who is a GREAT fucking writer and has written lots of other books, including the book “Detroit Rock City,” which has a great chapter on ICP, worked on this book for three years, following our ongoing lawsuit against the FBI over the stale gang label, and interviewing Juggalos by the hundreds all over America. Steve’s book comes out everywhere on July 12 and can be preordered at Amazon.com at this link: https://www.amazon.com/Juggalo-Insane-Clown-Posse-World/dp/0306823772/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1467405619&sr=8-1&keywords=Juggalo+steve+miller

Also, the book’s publisher has put together this dope ass promo that allows you to read the first several pages of the book. Click on it and peep the flavor: http://app.snapapp.com/Juggalo_excerpt1

In other Psychopathic news, tickets for Hallowicked 2016 are on sale now at Hatchet Gear and at TicketWeb! This year’s annual October tradition will take place at Harpo’s on the East Side of Detroit Murderous, which is where we held our SOLD-THE-FUCK-OUT Ringmaster Show this past February on Juggalo Day! I know a lot of you are holding onto your cheddar to save up for Gathering 17 spending money, but if you’re not able to go to GOTJ17, you got no excuse, ninja—get those Hallowicked tix now!

And speaking of the Gathering, I don’t need to tell you how fresh and historic Gathering 17 is going to be. Let me just tell you the other important info that concerns those attending. First of all, WE ARE SOLD THE FUCK OUT OF RV PASSES!! They’re gone like Kevin Federline’s career. This Gathering is going to fucking PACKED but we’ll have plenty of room for everyone – as long as we don’t sell anymore RV passes. Sorry for those that got the bone but we sold as many as we could.

By the way, the ticket line at the gate of Legend Valley will NOT BE AS CRAZY OR AS STALE AS LAST YEAR! Jumpsteady, the genius that he is, came up with a dope solution that will ensure the lines move relatively fast. One thing we’re doing to move things along is that THERE IS NO WILL CALL THIS YEAR. Please note: ON JULY 10, WE STOP SELLING GATHERING TICKETS AND PASSES AT JUGGALOGATHERING.COM! This means unless you buy your tickets between now and July 10, YOU WILL ONLY BE ABLE TO BUY THEM AT THE GATE! Last year’s big bottleneck in the Gathering line was looking up all the Will Call orders. It took fucking forever and was just pointless after a while. So fuck it—we’re getting rid of it! If you don’t order your ticket online, then buy it at the gate. Simple.

What else? I know I’m forgetting something…Oh yes! Don’t forget that we have a bunch of dope new merch that will be making its debut at GOTJ17, including:

* The expanded and updated audiobook of “Behind the Paint,” read by Violent J himself and produced by Young Wicked!

* Big Hoodoo’s wicked-as-fuck new album “Asylum,” which you’ll be able to get before its national release date on July 22.

* The fresh new deckbuilding card game “Into the Echo Side,” designed by Jumpsteady and Louis Simpson, featuring exclusive art by the legendary artist TOM WOOD!

So much flavor, so little time. And speaking of little time, I gotta jet for now ‘cause I gotta work on some other shit before I can get outta here for the night. Have a great and SAFE 4th of July, fam, and as always….mad clown love to each and every one of you from all of us at Hatchet Headquarters.

Peace + Stay Wicked,

J-Webb

18 Jun2016

Direct from Psychopathic.....it's the Hatchet Herald!

Whaddup, fam? This is your pal J-Webb filling in for Violent J for this edition of the Hatchet Herald. Right now, the Wicked Clowns are at The Loft in Lansing, getting ready for the first of their last two shows on the almighty Riddle Box Tour. This excursion will go down in history as one of the HYPEST, DOPEST ICP TOURS in Juggalo history! Juggalos came far and wide to witness the spectacle of the almighty 3rd Joker’s Card performed LIVE in its entirety! The last time they did this was on Juggalo Day, 2013 at St. Andrew’s Hall, where tickets sold out literally in one hour!

So the Riddle Box Tour has been an amazing motherfucking success, with flying Faygo and Juggalo family love aplenty. Hell, I even got to join the tour for two shows, hosting the shows in Portland, OR—near where I grew up—and my old stomping ground of Seattle. Both shows were sold out and off the fucking chain. But the most special part of all was that I got to bring my father to the Portland show. This was a big deal because when I was a kid, I wasn’t allowed to listen to rap, heavy metal, or anything that sounded “satanic.” So the fact that I grew up to work for the fucking Insane Clown Posse has always been a source of great humor between me and my old man. And a funny thing happened at the show—MY DAD HAD A GREAT TIME!! He had nothing but great things to say about the Juggalo family and how friendly they were and how they honored America’s veterans. My pops served in Vietnam and earned a Purple Heart when he was severely hurt in the line of fire. He always wears a Purple Heart veteran hat everywhere and a LOT of Juggalos just came up to him and shook his hand and simply said “Thank you for your service.” I’m telling you, Juggalos, it got both me and my old man right in the feels. I’m not sure my dad left the venue that night as a Juggalo…but he DEFINITELY loves and appreciates our family. What more could a son want?

And no sooner do we end the Riddle Box Tour than we will invade Canada in just over a week, kicking it off at Canada’s biggest music festival Amnesia Rock Festival. ICP hasn’t been in Canada for 13 long ass years, so they are PSYCHED AS FUCK to be entertaining our Canadian homies. For a list of tour dates and tickets, go to www.psychopathicrecords.com/tour-dates

Onto other issues, my homie Big Hoodoo’s new record “Asylum” is now available for preorder at Hatchet Gear and will also be available for sale at the Gathering and in retail stores (the ones that still STOCK CDs) on 7/22. This album literally gave me chills when I heard it the first time. It’s got one of the scariest albums intros I’ve ever heard—and I spent a lot of time listening to death metal in my 20s, so I KNOW a thing or two about spooky ass opening tracks. I’ll go there—I like this album even better than “Crystal Skull!” It’s off-the-charts wicked shit, as only the black magic practioner of the Dark Carnival could deliver.

Peep the dope teaser below if you haven’t already:

Also, I don’t know about you, but I’m SOOOOOO fucking ready for Jumpsteady and Louis Simpson’s deckbuilding card game “Into the Echo Side” to make it’s grand debut at the Gathering! Jumpsteady is a master gamer and so much love and thought and strategy has gone into creating this amazing piece of entertainment. The Dark Carnival really blessed us because we were able to procure the artistic talents of the world renowned graphic artist Tom Wood to design every card in the game! Not only does the game provide hours of entertainment, but every card is a masterpiece unto itself. No one does it better than Tom Wood. No. Body. This is why “Into the Echo Side” is a MUST OWN! It’s available for preorder now on Hatchet Gear (we’ll be shipping them out just before we leave for the Gathering) and will be available for sale at the Gathering. There will also be a demonstration booth where you can learn how to play the game. So get ready to delve into the Nethervoid! Check out the dope teaser below:

And ooooooooohhhhhhhhh my goodness! How is it POSSIBLE that another Gathering is already upon us?? Seems like 2015’s Gathering literally just happened last week. But that’s the way it is at Psychopathic—no sooner do we see a project through to completion, then we start another one. And Gathering 17? Boy oh boy, brothers and sisters. There’s more flavor in store for you this year than at the Faygo plant in Detroit Murderous. First, some info: ALL RV PASSES ARE NOW SOLD OUT! Between Balla sites and RVs, we simply don’t have enough room at Legend Valley to accommodate anymore large vehicles. Sorry if this fucks up your Gathering plans, but that’s the way it is, I’m afraid. But there are still plenty of car passes and tickets, so get those NOW.

Well, Juggalos, I gotta run but first one more piece of flavor: NEXT FRIDAY, JUNE 24, TICKETS FOR HALLOWICKED 2016 WILL BE GOING ON SALE!! More details will be forthcoming, but get ready to get those tickets for the most wicked night of the year.

Peace + Be Wild! I’ll holler at you soon!

Your Pal,

J-Webb

28 May2016

HATCHET HERALD By VIOLENT J ON TOUR! HAPPY AND PROUD!

THE RIDDLE BOX TOUR

Damn skippy, bitch! We are killin’ it right now! KILLIN' IT!! As I sit here in my pimped out tour bus in San Diego, California, I think about how fuckin’ crazy this tour has actually been! Most of the shows have been in small ass venues, and have been jammed packed and sold the fuck out! So fresh! A sold out clown show in a small venue packed full of wild ass Juggalos creates an energy so powerful it could split atoms. You just can't capture that flavor in big ass theaters or arenas. It’s just not the same. It’s fresh, don't get me wrong, but them small clubs over sold is just true punk rock. Small clubs in my opinion, are fuckin’ perfect for ICP, especially ones with high roofs so the Faygo can fly and everybody can get wet! We are truly taking it back this time. All the way back to 1995! We’re performing The Riddle Box album in its entirety every night on this tour! We did this very show a few years ago for Juggalo Day in Detroit and because that show sold out so quick and so many Juggalos wanted the chance to see that show live, we decided to be the shit and do it again. This time we’re doing it coast to coast! Plus the 20th Anniversary version just came out on CD. Shit this is the 20th anniversary tour and to us out here it feels like these shows are very much IN DEMAND! Yes, I will admit that it feels pretty fuckin’ good filling these clubs with rabid, crazed Juggalos who love The Riddle Box album so much that they are coming outta the woodwork to witness it performed live, every song, all the way through! If you live in a city that the tour is headed to, I would advise you to let loose and TURN THE CRANK!!!

NEW ARTIST ON PSYCHOPATHIC!!!!

Everybody is buzzing like a giant, school bus sized wasp nest chilling in your backyard! The new infomercial for Gathering 17 is finally up on insaneclownposse.com and YouTube and one of the many, many wig shredding surprises was the quick flash announcement about a new artist coming out on Psychopathic Records! Well, take it from the fingers of the Duke -- it’s true! Even though Psychopathic had previously said that we planned on focusing on strictly ICP projects for a while unless something awesome falls right in our lap ... well, something awesome fell alright; straight off the wagons of the Dark Carnival and into the Lotus Pod studio and we began working instantly. So here goes the official announcement right now: THERE IS A DOPE NEW ARTIST ON THE HATCHET, Y'ALL!

You know, after the infomercial for Gathering 17 came out, I was reading some of the comments that people were making regarding the infomercial’s quick announcement about how there will be a brand new, 6 song EP from Psychopathic Record’s newest discovery dropping at Gathering 17. And on Friday night, on the main fuckin stage, Psychopathic will debut the new music video from the new artist in front of all the Juggalos of Gathering 17! I read some comments that we’re saying positive shit like about how “Psychopathic is in a much better place nowadays to drop a new artist than they were a couple years ago.” I know what they mean by saying that, because it’s the fuckin' truth. People were doubting us a few years ago, which is still crazy to me. I still can't believe people we’re doubting us, our drive, and our abilities. How could anybody ever doubt the strength of the Hatchet?

Anyway, about the comments, one comment caught my eye. I think the kid was hating on us but it didn't really make any sense to me. The kid said “Instead of signing already established rappers who are dope as fuck, Psychopathic likes to find their own artist and create characters out of them... lame”

The kid said something like that and I started thinking... you know what? He’s exactly right! From Twiztid all the way up to Big Hoodoo that’s exactly what we’ve always done with almost all of our artist. When we first met Twiztid they were still calling themselves The House of Krazees with The ROC. But when we signed Jamie and Paul to Psychopathic Records, working together with them as a team, we all created something brand new, much bigger, much better, and of course something much more outrageous and colorful! We also came up with a new name for them and after several failed attempts at getting their look right, we finally hit the ball outta the park and thus Twiztid was born! It was the same exact same thing with Blaze Ya Dead Homie, ABK, Boondox and all of our more successful artists. We believe in entertainment at Psychopathic! We like theatrics! We want more than just incredible rapping and song writing skills, we want theatrics! We want our artists to be larger than life! We find them when they're raw and talented but without direction, and together with them we like to help sharpen their skills, and bring the fuckin' best out of them. We like to teach them everything we think we know about the underground. That is how Psychopathic likes to do things and we’re proud of it! As long as they ride with Psychopathic, we like it done the Psychopathic Records way. We find incredible Juggalo talent and try to create something we think mad Juggalos will love. It’s been like that from day one. And in keeping true to the Psychopathic formula of doing things, we’re doing it again! We are unleashing our newest artist to the Juggalo world at Gathering 17, now that we feel they are ready to be seen and heard!!! You have to understand, it's very hard to do this nowadays. It’s a different world out there than it was when we started doing this. With social media everywhere, its almost impossible to find truly talented artists who don’t already have 5 videos up on YouTube. Eventually there is no question people will find out who our new artist used to be, or who they used to rap as. But how about just trying to roll with the show and enjoy it? Quit trying to peek behind the curtains so much because what’s most important is that you realize this... The story continues! Our legacy didn't end after the first 6 Jokers Card’s, my friends, our history is still unfolding. I swear on the Holy Creator that I feel like ICP and Psychopathic Records are in our PRIME. I told you this last time -- If you gave our new shit an honest chance and quit expecting to hear Riddle Box again every time we drop something new, I promise you, that you will see that the magic is still flowing hard, if not harder than ever. Our story (meaning the entire Dark Carnival and Juggalo world) is still being told. New artist and new branches of The Family Tree are still growing. You can live your life in the past and reminisce the rest of your life away if you want. Or you can look forward, keep moving ahead and making new memories at new Gatherings, discover new favorite songs and new artists! New shit is dropping all the time! My honest advice to you ninjas, whom I love so much, is that you continue to keep enjoying the ride on the mighty wagons of the Dark Carnival because there is still much, much, much more to come

So, we got some huge announcements to make at the ICP seminar, which I’m nervous as fuck about. But you know what? Whether you’re there in person to hear the big news like a true explorer and adventurer in life or if you’re not there and you watch it on You Tube, either way and be sure to peep down in my dick area because you’ll surely be seeing my dick and my nuts hanging out. Why you ask? Because I don't give a fuck! I’m going out there nuts hanging out, like fuck it and I’m gonna tell all that news with my brother and I don't give a fuck what happens! Gathering 17!

BIG FUCKIN’ HOODOO

Yo hahaha, I gotta tell ya. ICP helped produce Big Hoodoo’s first album and I helped write some hooks and maybe a couple lyrics. No different than all of Psychopathic’s artist debut albums. We like to get in there and help produce that first album to help with the direction we hope this artist will continue in. From everybody, I could list them all, we always like to help with that first album. It’s tradition. Hoodoo is always exploding with ideas so I knew he would be totally fine in the studio, in charge of everything on his own for his new shit. But I had no idea how in effect and how driven and in control he really was. We did the first album and then we went off doing our own thing and time goes by. Tours go by. Suddenly after maybe a year of doing shows and tours together and just kicking it here and there while we’re both off doing our own thing, suddenly he hands me a CD and he's like "Here it is. It’s done. Asylum." I was geeked and surprised as fuck to get it, but I had been working with Otis and Joey with our new artist so that’s all I had been listening to lately. Finally about 3 days go by and I'm taking my kids over to visit with my mom and I got a long drive so suddenly Im thinking “HOODOO ASYLUM”. I popped it in not knowing what to expect. I had been needing a haircut but by the time I got to my mom's I needed Hair Club For Men BADLY. Because my wig had been blown all over the car. And I looked like Bozo The Clown with bad combover. That fuckin' album KILLS!!! He schooled the living shit outta that fuckin' entire project from album concept, to individual song concepts, to the slamming ass beats and production, the special fuckin' guests are all put in there perfectly and it's not all chock full of guest; he's got just the right amount. Hoodoo has a really fuckin good album dropping at Gathering 17. You guys are gonna dig that shit!

I got mad shit to say I could talk all fuckin day but these are some of the main things I want to tell you about. I wanna give you another reminder about the Behind The Paint Audio Book that is absolutely fuckin' devastating in my opinion. I read the entire book and added crazy maaaaaad more shit thats' not in the original book. Plus it includes the ultra crazy and surprising chapter that has never been heard before... The Hells Pit Chapter!!! This thing is like a week long so if you're really looking to kill some time, this shit is the perfect gift for you. And if you're a truck driver and you wanna hear a pretty cool story, this is for you! The Audio Book comes out on a zip disc plug thing for your whatever, at GATHERING 17!!!

The Wizard of the Hood show at the Gathering is going to blow your fuckin heads off! HAAAAAAA!!!

I’m a very proud and happy man these days ninjas. My life is going very good. I love being the best dad I can possibly be. I love my fuckin' job. Working with all my brothers. I’m so blessed that anybody, let alone thousands of ninjas (human lives worth more than any treasure, real people, good people, thousands!) are reading this right now. And I truly believe Psychopathic Records is fuckin' on top of our game right now more than ever. We have all our shit on point! Our new artist is fuckin' unbelievably crazy! They perform the wicked shit at never before seen levels. Things are said that I’ve never heard said, ever, anywhere in the realm of the wicked shit! I’m very proud of our new artist! I’m confident Juggalos will all be greatly entertained. I’m proud as fuck about Gathering 17! My brother Jumpsteady is an insanely driven work machine working 7 days a fuckin' week, all the way around the fuckin’ clock to make sure that Gathering 17 is as tight as possible. If there was ever a movie about ICP, the guy playing Jumpsteady would have a leading roll. You ninjas would not believe how hard we work to juggle all these different projects at once and it’s ALL SO EASY because were eternally powered by JUGGALO LOVE AND THE DARK CARNIVAL!

This kid was blind at a meet and greet the other day and they pointed him at us and he said, “Man I just wanna say thank you, your music helped me get through going blind”.

Wow. How the fuck can we not be proud. We’re out here doing this shit! This is the future! For a fuckin' living, man, we’re doing this. I feel like Soopa Man these days!

By the way at the end of the show that night, during the crazy ass Faygo Armageddon, I look over and theres the blind kid, dark shades, walking cane and all, in the middle of the Juggalos throwing Faygo. Why? Because he's a fuckin’ Juggalo and he don't let nothing hold him back. He grabs life by the nut sac and fuckin punches it no matter what. He should be your inspiration to do anything you want in life. Like finally go to a Gathering. None better than Gathering 17! Go to Gathering 17! You know you wish you could be there, so be there. Make it happen. Word up. I'm out!

RIP Prince. He was fuckin amazing, incredible and awesome his whole life.

VIOLENT J

16 Apr2016

Direct from Psychopathic.....it's the Hatchet Herald!

Whuddup, my Juggalo brothers and sisters? This is your pal J-Webb with another edition of the Hatchet Herald, splitting your wig with all the fresh, up-to-date news from behind the citadel walls of Hatchet headquarters.

First of all, as you all know, tickets for ICP's first Canadian tour in 13 fuckin' years ARE NOW ON SALE...and holy shit! Y'all must've missed us something awful because the tickets are flying! The Canadian media went apeshit when it was announced that the Wicked Clownz would be touring the Great White North again and I've already gotten a shitload of media requests! I wish I was this popular in high school, damn!

Anyway, all tickets except for the Windsor and Barrie shows are now on sale at Psychopathicrecords.com/tour-dates Those dates should be on sale early next week.

And don't forget about the fresh ass VIP package, Canadians! It's the first time J and Shaggs have been in your provinces in 13 years, so get to Hatchet Gear and add on a VIP pack so you can kick it with the Duke and the Strangla before the show and get a dap, a kiss (ladies only, sorry guys!), an autograph, a photo, whatever! The Canadian tour starts right after the first leg of the national Riddle Box tour ends. No rest for the wicked clowns, baby!

In other news, our homie Big Hoodoo has put the finishing touches on his sophomore album "Asylum," which will debut at Gathering 17 and nation--nay--Worldwide on Friday, July 22. This is going to be one spooky-as-fuck album, filled with black magic-flavored Wicked Shit as only Big Hoodoo can deliver. Peep this creepy teaser for his album out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28Q_rqk9n8U

Turning our attention to a more serious subject, Jumpsteady received an email about a week ago from the mother of a fresh ass ninja named Joe, who was apparently in the ICP/Twiztid "American Psycho" tour documentary. I could never in a million years duplicate the emotion and sincerity that Joe's mom sent in the email, so I'm just going to copy and paste it here. First time I read it, I got choked up. No joke. Here's what she sent Jumpsteady:

I am writing to you about a young man, a Juggalo in the Denver area that needs help. I understand Juggalos are really a family; anywhere you are you can depend on these brothers and sisters when you need them. Joe has been part of this family for many years; he is even in your documentary American Psycho, which he is still really proud of. Joe will literally give the shirt off his back to a brother in need; he has done so many times. Right now Joe is the one that needs all the help he can get. I am hoping maybe you can help us share Joe’s story. We have set up a crowd funding page for him on GoFundMe https://www.gofundme.com/jx396efg . I know that if we can just reach enough people we will be able to raise the money he needs to get this treatment he so desperately wants and needs.

Joe fell from a tree two years ago and broke his back during a camping trip and damaged his spinal cord leaving him paralyzed from the waist down. Living life in his wheelchair has been a life changing experience yet it hasn’t slowed Joe down much. He still lives life to the fullest and remains positive and hopeful for the future. Since the accident Joe has never lost hope that he will one day walk again so we have done extensive research on possible treatment options. He has found a facility in Thailand that offers the kind of treatment that could help Joe regain some function that was lost when his spinal cord was damaged. They have reviewed his medical history and believe he is a great candidate for treatment with a good chance of regaining some function.

The only thing Joe needs now is financial assistance to get there and his treatment can begin. We have set up crowd funding page for him on gofundme.com (gofund.me/jx396efg . ) Family, friends, and friends of friends are doing their best to get the word out to as many people as they can to better the chances of Joe getting the help he needs. We know he will need approximately $65,000, this includes the treatment in Thailand and travel expenses for Joe and his friend that will accompany him and assist him along the way.

I am asking for your help in getting Joe’s story out to the family. I know that if more people hear about Joe’s wish to someday walk again he could get the financial help he needs.

Sincerely,

Ann B. (Joe's mom)

Pretty powerful and affecting story, right, fam? So it's been decided that this year's portion of the proceeds raised at the Gathering of the Juggalos auction--every year, we donate 25% of the funds raised to charity--will be donated to our homie Joe to send him to Thailand to receive the surgery he needs to walk again.

In the meantime, please consider donating $5 or $10 to the Go Fund Me Campaign set up by Joe's mom. This is what separates the Juggalo family from the typical fanbase--when one of our own needs assistance, we united and try to help them. So this year, let's help Joe walk again. To donated to his GoFundMe campaign, click here: gofund.me/jx396efg

That's it for this week, fam! The Riddle Box Tour kicks off May 5 so with that I bid you adieu--I have to get back to work.

Mad Clown Love as Always,

Your Pal J-Webb

02 Apr2016

Direct from Psychopathic.....it's the Hatchet Herald!

Whaddup, family?! This is J-Webb on the Hatchet Herald tip, filling in for my serial killin’ harlequin pal Violent J. J usually does these—and he does a helluva lot better job that I do at ‘em—but he’s busy getting ready for the Riddle Box Tour, so this week’s edition is brought to you by my stale ass. But I digress as my ninja Kevin Gill might say.

ANYWAY! Let’s get to it. First of all…WE JUST ADDED FOUR NEW DATES TO THE NATIONAL RIDDLE BOX TOUR! We’ve added a second night in Indianapolis, a San Diego date, a Tulsa date, and a Lansing date. AND VIP PACKAGES FOR ALL THESE NEW DATES ARE ALREADY ON SALE AT HATCHET GEAR! You can get ‘em here. Just select your city from the drop down menu and you’re good to go!: http://www.hatchetgear.com/icp-2016-riddlebox-tour-vip-meet-greet-16583

So just to be clear…the national Riddle Box Tour, in which ICP will perform the almighty 3rd Joker’s Card of the First Deck IN ITS ENTIRETY has just gotten bigger! And here’s the COMPLETE tour itinerary and ticket links below. So whut the fuck you waiting for, ninja? GET YOUR TIX TODAY…and get ready to TUUUURN THAAAA CRRAAAAAAAAANKKK!!

In other breaking news, next Friday, April 8 at insaneclownposse.com and our Psychopathic Records YouTube channel, witness the world premiere of the first full length music video from Psychopathic’s studio master ninja, YOUNG WICKED! This video, “Y.W.G.” is FRESH AS FUCK and a total head trip. For real! This is not only a dark and sinister music video of pure wicked shit but it’s also just an amazing piece of filmmaking in its own right! The creative team of Young Wicked, Jumpsteady, and director Ryan Archibold are a true trio of samurai and they’ve made one of the most INTENSE videos ever released by Psychopathic Records!

Check out the dope flyer below and share it with all your friends. The video drops NEXT FRIDAY, April 8. As far as time goes, we’ll keep you updated via insaneclownposse.com and social media. Either way…this is a video, you CANNOT miss!

Now let’s move on to talking about possibly the most anticipated event in Juggalo history…Gathering 17! We’re all working around the clock to put together the most flavorful Gathering ever! After all, this is no ordinary GOTJ…this is Number 17! As you all know, the number 17 is sacred in the Dark Carnival mythos so we want this to be the ULTIMATE Juggalo family reunion. We already some BOMB ASS flavor planned for Gathering 17, including the first-ever LIVE performance of Wizard of the Hood, featuring the entire original cast. We are booking tons of dope acts of both new and familiar faces, but there’s one act that year after year, Gathering after Gathering, Juggalos keep asking for. That dynamic duo of Zef, straight outta South Africa, the two people who we fink are freeky but we like them a lot…DIE ANTWOORD!

We’ve been trying for FOUR YEARS STRAIGHT to book Die Antwoord but it has never worked out due to scheduling issues. But we know that this summer Die Antwoord is going to be in the states around the time of the Gathering, so we’re asking you, the Juggalo fam, to hit them up on their social media pages and ask them to play at Gathering 17. How fuckin’ fresh would it be having Die Antwoord play at the most anticipated Juggalo family reunion of all time? Exactly. MAD FRESH!

Well, that’s it for this edition of the Hatchet Herald, fam. Stay tuned to insaneclownposse.com and our social media pages for breaking news, including the time for Young Wicked’s upcoming video dropping next Friday.

Until then, this is your pal J-Webb wishing you mad clown love and a great weekend. SCRUB LIFE 4-EVER!

Peace,

J-Webb

27 Feb2016

Direct from Violent J.....it's the Hatchet Herald!

What up, y’all? Holy fuckin’ shit, Juggalo Day Weekend was fuckin’ massively fresh y’all. I cannot even explain in words how much fun we had up on stage at both the Killjoy Club show and the Ringmaster show. It was just fuckin’ incredibly fun. The Juggalos at both shows were straight up amazing! They we're so completely off the fuckin’ hook, man. I’ll never forget toward the end of the Killjoy Club show when we broke into some ICP jams, how fuckin' psychotically live that crowd got. It was just straight up infectious. Everybody was going fuckin’ insane. And performing The Ringmaster up on that tall ass stage with my brother Shaggy and our DJ for the night Mike E. Clark was easily as good as having sex with three chicks at once. It was just so much fun up there doing those songs. Most of them we've never performed live at all and some we haven’t performed since the ‘90s. The only stale part for me was at the very end of the show when we performed the song “House of Mirrors.” The song features an old school rapper from Southwest Detroit whose career never really went nowhere named Capitol E. He was an old friend and he was supposed to come out and perform his verse live. But he straight the fuck up left us hangin’! I called his ass twice and gave him the dates and everything was straight. Then when I called him two days before the show to ask if he had any guest list people, he was like "Oh, that's this weekend? Oh, I'm busy with something else." Can you believe that shit? During the argument that ensued he actually brought up that he thought he should be gettin' paid. For one verse?! As if anybody in that building actually bought a fuckin' ticket to come and see Capitol E. He never even actually put any music out! Anyway, luckily I don’t think too many ninjas noticed the missing third verse of “House of Mirrors” but if they did I apologize that he was so fuckin' stale. He actually said that missing the show to him was "no loss". That's ok because his absence was most definitely no loss to the 3000+ Juggalos packed into the over sold Harpo’s. The positive vibe at both of them shows was just straight up unreal. Everybody had so much fuckin' damn fun. And get this -- to everybody in the building's surprise, Twiztid showed up out of nowhere and fuckin’ absolutely slaughtered the crowd with freshness! Wow! Man, what a treat! Thank you to them for that amazing freshness. Esham killed it as expected and it was more than great seeing him again. He looked great and killed his set. There were afterparties at Juggalo-filled hotels everywhere! It was an astounding fuckin’ success. Juggalo Day has really grown to be something very special for ninjas every where, I'll tell you that shit right now.

In other freshness, we are still creating the audio version of the book “Behind The Paint” and it’s super stupid awesome. It’s fuckin’ long, mad, mad, fuckin’, long. It’s gonna take days to listen to it all. Maybe you can check out an hours worth every night or on the way to and from work or whatever. It’s hella packed with crazy fresh info that is NOT in the book. This think is more like an update of the book. It’s just super fuckin’ cool. It’s got sound effects, music, and everything else a good audio story needs. And don’t forget, it also has the story of “Hell’s Pit” which was not talked about at all in “Behind the Paint.” I think the official name for this thing is gonna be something like "The Story of ICP and The 6 Jokers Cards - Behind The Paint" It will be available on USB drive at the Gathering and like I said last time, I honestly believe that this thing is the coolest product Psychopathic Records has released in many, many moons.

Listen to me, ninjas right quick, please ... Mark my words about this. At this year's ICP seminar at Gathering 17, we are going to drop what could very well be the biggest news in Juggalo history. No exaggeration! This to us, is some massively huge news. And the coolest thing about this news is that it involves each and every one of you! There is so much news to reveal at this year’s seminar that usually I'm mad nervous because I don’t feel like we have enough to say or enough flavor to spill. But this year? I'm fuckin’ positively positive we are going to flip the wigs of each and every one of you and by the time the seminar is over you're all gonna be bald, shocked, stunned, schooled and freaked the fuck out!

There are so many super fuckin’ awesome projects that we are working on behind the scenes here at Psychopathic Records that it really, honestly feels like we are white hot right now. I wish I could just list off the cool ass, undercover shit we are putting together inside of these walls, but you know how we do. We like to drop our flavor drip by drip as we go and not just blow our whole load at once all over your face. But believe this -- if you’re a Juggalo, we are about to keep you dead seriously entertained for a long time to come. And I'm not just talking about new music. I'm talking about books, documentaries, brand new huge events, new and exciting products, and so, so, so much more. It feels so positive and great up here that I love, LOVE coming to Psychopathic every morning and kickin’ ass up here all day long. This is what we were born to fuckin’ do and we just happen to be doing it very, very well right now. I told you last time and I'll say it again... 2016 is all about the new.

The Violent J Solo Charity Tour! This time there will be no wrestling but plenty of jamming! Seriously, ninjas, do you want to witness something rare and special, that you will never, ever see again? All while helping sick children feel better? Come check out the Violent J solo tour with special guest Nova Rockafeller and Lil Eazy-E, plus more acts on the show! I'm going to be performing a full set of ICP jams as well as some of my solo joints never heard before live. But mostly classic ICP jams that we can all just rock to. It's gonna be a great fuckin' time all for a great fuckin' cause. Come check out the rare merch were gonna be bringing on this uber rare tour. These dates are extra special. You will never see anything like this happen agian. My hype man will be none other than my ace in the hole, Young Wicked! True Juggalos, we seriously need your help. Even if you live far away, the sick kids of the St John's Children's Hospital of Illinois need your fuckin’ help. This small venues tour is going to truly be something special that you don't want to miss. Come holler at me and Young Wicked at the VIP meet and greets before the show for just $50 bucks! And that $50 spot goes straight to the charity along with the rest of all the show's proceeds. And Nova Rockafeller and Lil Eazy-E ain’t no joke. Just check out some of Nova's videos on You Tube! She's amazing on the mic, and she's crazy fuckin' hot in her videos and even hotter in person! Just look at these fresh ass tour dates! Denver? Albuquerque? Holy shit, these shows are gonna be fun!

Everybody on the tour even all recorded a brand new song together called "Sick Kids." The song features Nova Rockafeller, Lil Eazy-E, Young Wicked and myself, Violent J. We seriously need you there, Juggalos. You can even cop the ultra rare CD of this song for only $10 at the show, and where does that $10 go you ask? To the Sick Kids, bitch! What did you think, we were gonna pocket it or something? This shit is for charity, motherfucka! So get you a copy of this fresh ass, rare song for your collection, feel great about doing it, and bump the fuck outta this great song! Also on this super cool CD is an alternate remix of the song done by Mike E. Clark himself, plus a recorded interview with Violent J, Young Wicked, Nova Rockafeller and Lil Eazy-E all about the making of the song and the tour. There will also be an a capella mix of the track as well, so if you’re a DJ you can put your own beat behind it. This ultra rare, extra special "Sick Kids" CD is only available on this tour and at HatchetGear.com! Collectors, listen to my words as you read them in your head ... You need this CD for your collection! If you ain’t got the "Sick Kids" CD … you ain't got shit!

That’s it y’all. Much Clown Love. Please try to attend one of the shows on Violent J’s Solo Charity Tour and please try to buy one of them fresh ass, rare and collectable "Sick Kids" CDs with the song "Sick Kids" plus a remix by Mike E. Clark and plus interviews with everybody on the tour including me, Violent J, Young Wicked, Lil Eazy-E and Nova Rockafeller!

MMFCL!Violent J, The Duke of the Wicked

27 Feb2016

Interview with Tom Wood

A Q&A With “Into The Echoside” Artist and Graphic Designer Tom Wood

Many Juggalo artists have created their own special interpretation of the Dark Carnival universe and its inhabitants, but Tom Wood is in a class all by himself. The founder of Meridian Design Works, Wood’s hyper-realistic paintings, graphic design, and visual artwork have earned him worldwide acclaim and a reputation as one of the best artists in the business. Some of the companies he’s worked for include Pepsi, the NBA, the NFL, Gatorade, Adidas; he’s even had his work featured in the legendary adult fantasy magazine Heavy Metal.

In short, Tom Wood is an artistic samurai. And he designing all of the artwork for the upcoming deck-building game “Into the Echoside!” Tom has been creating his own interpretations of the Joker’s Cards for years for the various companies that license Psychopathic’s designs … and now he’s working directly with Jumpsteady on what promises to be one of the most talked-about deck building card games in recent history, “Into The Echoside,” which will be released at Gathering 17 this summer.

We got on the phone with Tom at his studio to discuss his involvement with the game as well as his artistic influences.

When did you decide to start painting the Dark Carnival characters? What was the key factor that made you want to do your artistic interpretation of these characters?

That’s an interesting question. Back in 2009, I was contacted by a colleague of mine who worked for a company that licensed Psychopathic merchandise – FEA – and she contacted me because she knew a lot of my artwork tended to be more on the sinister side. So I looked into it and the deeper I looked, I just thought that Shaggy’s original visions of the Joker’s Card were just genius—the different characters and all the storylines behind them. So I was asked to get the work done for (FEA). The first piece I did for them was the Joker’s Card Collection, where the characters were actually coming out of a card frame. They presented that to Hot Topic and Hot Topic just ate it up. And then their other big client, Spencer’s Gifts, they saw the Hot Topic line and decided that they wanted their own Tom Wood line. So that started the second series. And Spencer’s did a big display in the window; they really did it up right. And I was kind of the go-to ICP guy after that. But I did a lot of research. I mean, I had certainly known about ICP and their music for years, but it gave me a chance to explore the mythology of the Joker’s Cards, read through the lyrics and stay true to the material but do my own vision of what I thought the Joker’s Cards could be. I knew I had to stay true to what the Juggalos would accept though.

Is there a particular Joker’s Card that is your favorite to interpret artistically?

My favorite one is The Ringmaster because it’s just so wicked. He sets the tone for the entire original six Joker’s Cards, as far as what I want the look to be.

Growing up, who were some of the visual artists who inspired you? You certainly have a very distinct style but were you influenced at all by fantasy artists like Frank Frazetta or Boris Vallejo when you were growing up?

Oh, you hit the nail on the head. When I was 7 years old, I saw the very first album by Molly Hatchet, which has the Frank Frazetta piece “The Death Dealer” on the cover. When I first saw that painting I was just blown away. He went on to do three more covers for Molly Hatchet, but “The Death Dealer” piece was the one that made me realize what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I think Frazetta is an influence upon anyone who wants to do fantasy artwork.

So now you’re working on this new deck-building card game for Psychopathic called “Into the Echoside.” Can you tell the Juggalos how you came to be involved with this project?

It was a surprise to me. Last November, Jumpsteady reached out to me and told me about this idea he had about this project that he wanted to be the game of games. He told me he had been playtesting it with his friends and that it was really coming out great. So he told me he needed someone to do the artwork and someone who knew the characters, so I was psyched to start on it. Around the first of the year, I launched into it, working on the box cover, the game board, and started designing the cards. It’s probably one of the most fulfilling projects I’ve ever worked on to be honest with you. Everything is just coming out beautiful and everybody is just stoked about it. I’m probably sleeping about three hours a night because I’m obsessed with making these cards living characters and making the whole thing just look as good as possible. For the next two to three months, I’m just going to be focused solely on “Into the Echoside” and making it as good as it can be. I really am honored to be part of this project and Psychopathic is easily one of my favorite clients of all time. It’s just so exciting to be a part of this.